Konoha sniper corps
by Fat-Man-pirates
Summary: AU, naruto meets a strange man with an even stranger weapon. read as naruto journeys to become the best sniper. pairings later in the story, NaruHina probably. NOT QUITE ABONDONED, BEING REWRITTEN, BETTER THAN IT WAS BEFORE ANYWAY.
1. the man in the mist

_Konoha's Sniper Corps._

"_Being talented is not the same as being skilled. Talent can only go so far, and skill you must earn." - _Fat-Man Pirates

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would know whats behind Kakashi's mask.**

(**please keep in mind that this is an AU story. The Uchiha massacre is slightly altered. You'll see:)**

It was a cloudy day in Konoha. The clouds were thick, and an eternal darkness was cast over the village. Many of the civilians spent today inside, as they feared getting caught in the rain. But one small boy was the exception. This boy was around eight years old, thin, with shocking yellow hair and piercing blue eyes. The name of this boy, is Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto was walking back to his apartment after a visit to his only friend and mentor, the third Hokage. Naruto often went and visited the man, as he often had nothing else to do, and no one else to see. For reasons the young child didn't understand, he was hated by almost everyone in the village. While people just hearing this for the first time may say this is an exaggeration, the unfortunate reality is that he is despised by almost everyone. And I mean almost.

Naruto was out today just because he knew that the village would most likely stay away from him today, as most of them didn't feel like getting wet just to take out a child. That's right, not only is Naruto hated, he is actively hunted across the village on most days. Yet Naruto held no ill will for the village, as Naruto is a kind soul with a heart bigger than the Hokage mountains.

But today, Naruto was feeling a little depressed. The Third Hokage could not visit with him for very long today, and he also didn't have enough money to go to his favorite restaurant, Ichiraku's Ramen bar. That restaurant was his favorite place in the whole village. The proprietor and his daughter were among the few people who liked and was kind to Naruto. But even if they were his friends, they still had a business to run, and giving out free ramen is bad for business. On his way home, Naruto had to go through the shinobi training fields. He had to go through this every day, as the only other route was through a residential district, and the people there often try to kill him. As he was walking through the field, Naruto noticed that the field had been covered in a thin fog. While not enough to prevent him from seeing ahead of him, he could only see about 20 feet ahead. As Naruto pondered why there was fog in this area of the village, he heard a very odd noise. (clack-clack). Naruto stopped and listened for a minute, wondering what that sound was, when suddenly a loud CRACK echoed through the training field. As soon as he heard this Naruto jumped in fright. "what the heck was that!" yelled Naruto. And no sooner had he said it, he felt a hard _something_ pressing against his back.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked a low voice from behind Naruto. "answer quickly and I may spare your life." said the voice again. "I-I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" said the small boy in a panic. "and I didn't mean to sneak up on you! I was on my way home and then that loud noise startled me! Please don't kill me!" pleaded the child. The man removed the object from Naruto's spine. As he did so, the mist surrounding the field lifted, and Naruto turned around to see his assaulter. If front of him stood a well muscled man who stood about 6 feet tall. He had brown hair, kinda in a spiky mess not to different from Naruto, he also had brown eyes that blinked only once every minute or so. The man also had a ruler strait scar running from his forehead to his chin, giving him an intimidating appearance. The man was wearing a matte green vest, similar to a Chunin vest, but with bigger pockets. the final piece of the man's appearance was a large pole like object with what looked like a telescope attached to it was strapped to his back. The man let out a bellowing laugh as he saw the boy's reaction. "Bwahaha! Relax my dear boy, I was never going to kill you, I just wanted to know who you were! But I have to say, it always makes me laugh when I get that reaction!" he said, trying to contain his laughter. Naruto, who was still not convinced he was safe, eyed the man suspiciously. "Who are you? I don't remember seeing you around the village." said Naruto warily.

The big man chuckled again. "True, I haven't introduced myself have I? Well, the name is Raigin Tomayoko, or "Eagle Eye", to my friends." said the man. Naruto was confused. "Why Eagle Eye? He asked. "Well that's because I can pick out a target from a mile away." boasted Raigin. "Its just a name I earned due to my skills." Naruto was still confused. "What skills do you have?" he asked. Raigin looked stunned. "You mean you haven't heard of the Legendary-" he began. "Toad Sage?" said Naruto, remembering what the Third had told him about one of his former students. "NO!" shouted the man. "I am not that pervert of a sage. My title is the Legendary Eagle Eye!" he exclaimed while striking a pose. The man looked down and saw that Naruto was cowering beneath him, his eyes screwed shut, looking like he braced himself. "Son, what the hell are you doing?" asked Raigin, a note of concern in his voice. Naruto looked up at Raigin. "You mean you aren't going to hit me?" he asked cautiously. Raigin looked puzzled. "Why would I hit you? He asked. Naruto looked down at his feet while he answered. "Because everyone else does." he said miserably. Raigin immediately turned serious. "Why do they hit you?" He asked the small boy. Naruto looked up at the man, tears shining in his eyes. "I don't know why, they just do." he answered.

While the two were talking, Naruto didn't notice that the clouds around the city had moved on, and the villagers were emerging from their houses. He didn't notice that the villagers had seen him, and that they were slowly forming a mob with the intention of once again "finally killing the demon-brat". In fact, Naruto was actually feeling good, he met someone new who would talk to him without hitting him, or trying to kill him. His happiness immediately turned to fear as he turned and saw the mob approaching. With out saying anything to his new friend, Naruto ran, hoping to reach the relative safety of his apartment before the mob caught him. But this was not to be. On his way home, he found the way blocked by a second mob, all of whom wanted his blood. So Naruto, in a panic, turned down a side street only to find Raigin standing there, a look of rage on his face. Naruto stopped running and eyed the man fearfully. Raigin didn't say anything, he just un-holstered another weird tube things, this one much shorter than the one on his back. "Hey Ossan! I trusted you!" yelled Naruto. As he said this, the mob began to march its way down the alley, brandishing everything from brooms to katana, intent on ripping the boy limb from limb. Just as Naruto had finally given up hope, a barrage of shots rang out in the alleyway. The villagers at the front of the mob screamed and clutched their hands, each one had a single neat hole in it. Naruto turned around quickly, and he saw the smoke rising from the weird tube thing. "R-Raigin?" said Naruto cautiously. "Come here Naruto." said Raigin in a low, soft voice. Naruto immediately did as he was told, and clutched to Raigin's leg. Convinced that the child was not hurt to badly, he turned his attention to the still seething, but slightly scared, mob. "Be happy that I just left you with a hole in your hand." he said dangerously. "If I had hit your wrist, you all would have died." the mob immediately backed up, fearing this strange man in front of him. One of the mob stood up. "Why are you helping the demon-brat?" he asked Raigin. "This boy has caused destruction on a scale that was never seen before, and yet you defend him!" yelled the villager. Many of the others were starting to get brave too. They immediately started yelling at Raigin, while others had turned their attention to Naruto, and started yelling obscenities at him. Raigin was unfazed by the verbal assault. He calmly looked at the mob and he said, "Do you honestly believe that an eight year old boy has the power to destroy anything that is bigger than me?" he asked. " Now unless he destroyed a house made of glass, he probably couldn't hurt a fly, not at his current age." He said the last words with a kind look at Naruto, who was still clutching his leg. One of the villagers had had enough of this man. This particular villager also happened to be a Chunnin level ninja, and he thought that it was time to put an end to this stand off. The Chunnin let loose a swarm of kunai and shuriken at the pair, Naruto screamed in terror, but Raigin just had a look that said "oh, please…" he raised his weird weapon again and fired several shots at the weapons. The Chunnins satisfied look turned to one of horror as Raigin's shots not only shot the weapon, but embedded themselves in the wall behind him, missing him by inches. Raigin calmly reloaded his weapon and looked at the mob. "any other takers?" he asked dangerously. Right as he said it, three Jonin ninja jumped in front of the mob, screening the mob from Naruto and Raigin. Raigin sighed. " I was wondering when you were going to show up." he said "lucky for the kid I was there when I was, he would have been massacred." he stated. One of the Jonin walked up to Raigin. " we were actually here for a while, but you had everything under control." said the Jonin. The Ninja looked down at a shell-shocked Naruto. "is he alright?" asked the Jonin. " I think so." said Raigin " just a little shock, I'll see if I can pull him out of it." and with that, Raigin crouched down and looked the frightened child right in the eye. "Naruto" he said softly "how would you like to visit the local ramen bar huh?" this statement immediately dragged Naruto out of his shocked stupor. "REALLY!?!?!?! RAMEN!?!?!" he yelled. "what the heck are doing standing around here for then? Lets go!" and he ran strait to Ichiraku's. Raigin smiled, he really did like this kid. " Of course Naruto." he turned to the Jonin "See? I told you I could do it." he bragged. The Jonin Sweatdropped, and he and the rest of his squad returned to their scheduled patrol.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Raigin were at the ramen shop, and the tenants happily served them, as who were they to drive away a small, hungry child? As Naruto dug into his ramen, several questions ran through his mind. "_who is this guy? And what is that weird weapon he used?"_ he thought. Raigin sensed that the boy wanted to ask him something, so he simply opened the gate. "alright kid, what do you want to know?" he asked casually. Naruto was a bit taken aback at this open invitation. "Well… I kinda wanted to know what that weird weapon you used is." Asked the child. Raigin chuckled, clearly amused at the boys question. "Well now, what I use is a fairly new technology. Its called a fire-arm, or as many would call it, a gun." Raigin explained. "I won't go into detail on how it works, but if you like after we eat you can try to shoot it." Naruto looked stunned. "I-I can really try?" he asked. Raigin smiled "Of course you can. I need to see if I can teach others how to use them. See, my new job is starting soon and I wanted to see if I had the temperament to be an instructor." he explained. Naruto looked at Raigin closely, not quite getting what he was talking about. "so…" he began, "you want to teach me how to use a gun, in preparation to teach others… so you're an instructor?" he asked. Raigin Sweatdropped "_didn't I just say that?"_ he thought. Nevertheless, he smiled and said "that's right Naruto. And I want you to be my first student." Naruto's eyes practically bugged from his head "COOL!!!" he shouted.

Several bowls of ramen later (Raigin's poor wallet…) the strange pair made their way to the training ground. As they walked, the villagers left Naruto alone. As soon as they saw Raigin, they immediately ceased their attempts to kill the boy. News traveled fast, and the villagers knew that if they wanted to live, they should stay away from that man. Anyway, when they reached the training field, Raigin stopped Naruto. "now listen Naruto" he said " what I'm going to show you is a new art that is probably the most demanding of all ninja arts." he explained. "if you really want to learn this, you must put in hours of practice, and years of study, before you can think to call yourself a sniper." he finished. Naruto cocked his head to the side, squinting like a fox. "what is a sniper?" he asked. "a sniper is someone who is used often for assassination and recon." said Raigin "a sniper is often left alone for days on end, looking through his scope, not moving a muscle, waiting for his target. And when the time is right, he takes out his target. a sniper must have patience, cunning, and a grasp on geometry and physics." Naruto groaned at this, and Raigin just smiled. "don't worry, its really not as hard as it sounds." he said. "once you grasp the basics and if you like this art, it all comes very easily to you. But for now, I'm going to give you a demonstration." Raigin pulled out his pistol, and checked the chamber. Satisfied that the weapon was ready, he turned to Naruto. "now watch closely Naruto" he said. And with that, he turned, held his arm strait out, pulled the trigger, and the gun went off with a loud bang. Naruto jumped, and Raigin just laughed at him. "It's always worth it to see that reaction!" he exclaimed. Naruto only looked confused. _"what exactly happened?" _he thought to himself. And as if to answer his question, Raigin led Naruto to the stump he had just shot. The stump had a bull's eye target on it, and upon closer inspection, a tiny hole in the center of the target. "so what did you do?" asked Naruto. Raigin looked at him with a smile "Now now, that would be telling." he said. "try to figure it out on your own. Observe the stump and tell me what you see." Naruto knelt down and looked at the stump the only thing that stood out to him was the single hole in the stump. He squinted at it, and he noticed that there was an object lodged in the wood. He turned to Raigin. "do you have a small stick or something I can dig this out with?" Smiling, Raigin handed Naruto a kunai knife, and after a few seconds of prying, a small metal spike looking thing fell into Naruto's hand. "I think I'm starting to see…" started Naruto. "when that big bang thing happened, this little spike flew out of your gun and hit the target!" he finished. "That's pretty close!" said Raigin, beaming now. "you're a sharp one Naruto. That is actually close to describing what happened." Naruto just looked up and smiled at Raigin. Raigin looked back at him, and his next question completely floored him. "do you want to try?" Raigin asked the boy. "YOU BET!!! AFTER THAT WHO WOULDN'T?" shouted Naruto. "ok then, but I have to ask you to stop shouting Naruto. You need to break that habit If you ever want to be a sniper." said Raigin. Naruto nodded, and instead of yelling, he started tapping his foot. "now that's better." said Raigin. "now I will show you what to do." Naruto gave Raigin his undivided attention. Not even the apocalypse could distract him now. "Okay Naruto, first, hold it in your hand, let your hand form around the grip." Naruto did as he was told, and he was amazed at how heavy the gun was. Raigin leaned in toward Naruto and told him to aim at the stump he had shot. Naruto tried to aim at the stump, but he wasn't sure he was doing it right. Raigin then turned the safety off. "Okay Naruto, this is what's going to happen, when you squeeze the trigger, there will be a very loud bang, and I wouldn't be surprised if the gun flew out of your hands, so just don't panic, and be careful" said Raigin. "okay Raigin-sensei." said Naruto. Raigin was touched that Naruto had called him that. He was really starting to like this kid, and he really wanted to know more about him. But that would have to wait, as Naruto had fired the gun, and not only had it jumped out of his hand, it flew backwards and smacked him in the face. While Raigin was trying to comfort the small child, he looked up at the target, and was amazed that a single neat hole was in the stump just below the hole he had made. Naruto was still sniffling in pain, as the recoil of the gun took a toll on his young bones. "Naruto, its alright, you will feel better tomorrow." said Raigin "but I want you to look at the target. Where were you aiming at when you fired?" he asked. Naruto looked at the target, and his eyes widened in surprise. "I-I was aiming for your hole, sensei." he said with a sad tone in his voice. Raigin noticed this and picked Naruto up said " Naruto, you did better on your first try than anyone else I have ever seen try." said Raigin honestly. "I think you are a natural born sniper." "really?" asked Naruto, a look of happiness in his eyes. "of course." said Raigin.

Alright, that was my first chapter of an idea I had after watching the shooter and then watching 2 hours of Naruto, I hope you enjoyed it, and please review if you want me to continue. If so, I may post a new chapter every week. Until then, BANZAI!!!


	2. new life, new passion

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.**

Before I begin, I would like to thank everyone who subscribed or favorited this story. You have my gratitude, and you guys keep me going. Thank you *bows*

Chapter 2: the apprentice

_"How the hell do you find the square route of 7 ?!?!?"- Naruto Uzumaki, training in algebra._

(taking off from where we were last chapter)

After an eventful day of mobs, strange guns, and ramen, Raigin was walking Naruto home. If it were anyone other than Naruto, he would have just left, but he feared for the boy's safety. Even if the villagers were scared of Raigin, they still attempted to hit Naruto with bottles and rocks, but every time Raigin looked in their direction, the civilians would act like nothing happened. When he finally couldn't take the abuse, after a couple hand signs, Raigin cast the **Hidden Mist Jutsu, **and the villagers, who couldn't see anything, stopped throwing things at them. Naruto looked up in surprise.

"where did the fog come from?" he asked, puzzled. Raigin looked at him,

"I cast a Jutsu to make this fog Naruto. Now no one can see us." Naruto was floored.

"YOU'RE A NINJA?!!?" shouted Naruto, his excitement making him forget about his promise to stop shouting. Raigin just smiled at him

" Not really Naruto. I know several ninjutsu and genjutsu, but I was never a ninja of any village." Naruto looked puzzled.

"if you're not a ninja, why do you need jutsu?" he asked Raigin.

"well, in the world of a sniper ninja, you need to occasionally defend yourself if the enemy spots you. So all snipers are required to know at least two types of clone jutsu and the replacement technique. It would also help if you could learn a few offensive ninjutsu, as well as a minor genjutsu, as you will still need to go on standard ninja missions." explained Raigin.

"aawww! Come on, that's a ton of work!" whined Naruto. Raigin turned serious "Naruto, this path is not an easy one. Being a sniper are considered the most dangerous occupation in the military. Even a captured Hokage isn't tortured nearly as much as a sniper is." Naruto looked up at the Raigin, a look of confusion on his face. "why?" he asked. Raigin's eyes hardened as he began to think about it. "snipers are in the most danger because of what they do. On most missions, they assassinate valuable targets, like a crime boss or a clan head, and occasionally a feudal lord." Naruto nodded to show he was paying attention. "Now imagine that someone had killed the Hokage. Pretend he was your best friend in the world." Naruto shifted uneasily, as the Hokage was his best and only friend, other than Raigin and the ramen shop people. "now imagine that the old man was killed. Not in a battle, but walking down the street. And there was no one around for hundreds of feet." Naruto thought about it, and he was surprised to find he felt very angry at the very thought of this.

But Raigin wasn't done. "now, finally imagine if you had found and caught the person responsible for killing the Hokage. Now don't answer, but what would you do when you got him?" Raigin finished. Naruto was lost in thought. If anyone had ever done that to a friend of his, Hokage or not, life would be very painful and short for whoever did it. Naruto was surprised at his thoughts.

"where the hell did these thoughts come from?" he thought. "I never think like this." He looked up at Raigin.

He just nodded. "I understand Naruto. To one as young as yourself, this train of thought is unhealthy. So lets move on with our conversation." Raigin smiled. "anyway, you need these skills to protect yourself if you are ever caught on a mission. Most of the skills you need you will in the ninja academy. I'm judging by the way you are wearing your goggles you attend the school right?" asked Raigin still smiling.

Naruto looked surprised. "is it that obvious?" he asked, starting to laugh at himself. Raigin laughed with him. "well, I had a 50-50 chance of getting it right, and I think you want to be a sniper right?"

Naruto nodded. "you bet I do. Your job is one of the coolest I've ever seen!" said Naruto, shaking with excitement. "I want one of those guns! And I want to be able to hit a cigarette out of someone's mouth!" said Naruto, Eyes sparkling with this happy prospect.

(AN: think Monkey D. Luffy from one piece, when he gets real excited by something. See episode 88, around 11:30-11:45 or so, its hilarious)

Raigin smiled at Naruto, glad that the boy had really taken interest in his art. Not many people did. Everyone he showed it to usually walked away mumbling "kids and their damn toys" and didn't pursue this further. But Naruto really wanted to learn, and Raigin was willing to teach.

During their conversation, the pair had arrived at Naruto's apartment, supplied by him by the Hokage. "well Raigin, this is where I live." said Naruto with a happy face. " thanks for walking me here."

"no problem Naruto." said Raigin. "hey Naruto, do you think I could speak with your parents about the sniper path? It is really important that they know, as it is extremely dangerous." Naruto's happy face disappeared, and was replaced with a sad expression.

"Raigin, I don't have any parents. They died a very long time ago." now no one had actually told him this, but being eight years old, Naruto was able to piece together why he had no parents. Raigin looked shocked.

"really? You live by yourself?" he asked. Naruto nodded. "that would explain why no one would help him during the attack." thought Raigin. He turned to Naruto.

"ok then, seeing as your all set, I have to go and meet with the Hokage." He said to Naruto. Naruto looked sadly at him.

"can I see you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully. Raigin smiled, but it hurt him inside to see that look on Naruto's face. A look of loneliness, and sorrow.

"of course you can." said Raigin. "how about this, I'll even look for you tomorrow." he said, smiling at the blonde boy's reaction.

"you will? Really?" he said, a look of pure happiness on his face.

"of course I will, we're friends aren't we?" responded Raigin. And with that, he jumped away, leaving Naruto happier than he has ever been in his entire life.

On his way to the Hokage tower, Raigin was absorbed in his thoughts, all of them about Naruto (no pedophile lol.:) ) "why does everyone seem to hate this boy, he is only around eight years old and yet he is openly hunted by the villagers." thought Raigin, frowning at this memory. "if it wasn't for me, the poor kid would have died. I just can't get over it."

He continued roof jumping until he reached the Hokage tower. He entered the building and the receptionist sent him to the Hokage's office. After a brief wait, the Hokage called for him, and Raigin entered the room. Almost immediately, the Hokage smiled at his visitor.

"why Mr. Tomayoko! What a pleasant surprise! How is the "legendary Eagle Eye" faring these days?" asked the aged Hokage, a look of amusement on his face. Raigin smiled back at him.

"well I'm doing fine, but it appears that more time has passed than I thought, you got old since you left my village." he said with a smirk on his face. The Hokage merely took the jab in stride, not letting it bother him. "so what do I owe the pleasure?" asked Sarutobi.

Raigin looked at the wizened Hokage with an amused expression. "are you telling me you are also senile? What happened to the "Professor"?" said Raigin. "but if you really forgot, I'm here about my sniper training course." said Raigin, still smiling.

The Hokage nodded at him. "of course. I know why you are here Raigin, and I already have a list of candidates for your class." the Hokage reached into his desk and handed Raigin a scroll.

"on that scroll you will find all the info you need about your future charges. As well as any Blood Line Traits (BLT's) or mental issues that may come up. As you can see, not many volunteered for the class." Raigin nodded, as there were only three names on the list.

"well let's see here, Shikamaru Nara, Ten-Ten… does she have a last name? and Hinata Hyuuga. Interesting selection here. I'm particularly interested in the Hyuuga. Her clans Byakugan will prove invaluable to the sniper pair she is assigned to." Said Raigin nodding again. The Hokage smiled.

"well after I described what a sniper does and their role in the battle field, Ten-Ten and Shikamaru volunteered immediately. I think Shikamaru just wants to be lazy while Ten-Ten is the best ranged weapon master I have ever seen." explained the Hokage.

"Hinata I think chose it because she doesn't think she is strong enough to be a combat ninja. While I disagree with her self image, she still wants to be a sniper." finished the Hokage. Raigin looked up from the list and nodded. He knew that after the sniper training, Hinata would surely be strong enough to rival any of the combat ninjas, as every sniper must be able to defend his or herself in order to graduate from the program. Raigin hesitated, as he had another few questions he needed answers to.

The Hokage noticed this and said, "you seem preoccupied. Is there something wrong?" Raigin sighed and looked at the old man that was his friend. "Actually yes, Hokage-sama. I had a few questions regarding a young boy I met today his name is-" "Naruto?" finished the Hokage.

Raigin paused for a second, and nodded. "what do you want to know about Naruto?" asked the old man. Raigin took a deep breath, let it out, and said "why is this boy despised as much as he is? He is only eight years old, yet the people treat him a demon." Raigin said, hoping that the Hokage could tell him something about the villagers behavior. "also, earlier when I showed up to save him from a mob, as soon as I drew my weapon, he looked at me like I had betrayed him, and believed I was there to hurt him. Why does he think that? It's not normal for a boy to think that way." Raigin finished, looking to the Hokage.

The Hokage looked at him, sighed, and stoop up. He turned and face the window, and seemed to be debating about something. With a final sigh, he turned and faced Raigin. "what I'm about to tell you can never leave this room." said the Hokage, casting a silence jutsu over the office. "know what I'm going to tell you may very well change your opinion of Naruto. I hope for his sake that you don't take this the wrong way." said the Hokage.

Raigin nodded "I will try to keep an open mind Hokage-sama." the Hokage smiled at him. "at this stage, that's the best I could hope for. Now please listen and hold your questions until the end." Raigin nodded again, and the Hokage continued. "eight years ago, a giant Nine-Tailed Fox attacked our village. As I'm sure you know. But anyway, the fox was slowly making its way toward the village, and we were losing ground and ninja. Just when all hope was lost, the Fourth Hokage appeared on his toad summon. The fourth did what no other ninja could do. He "defeated" the kyuubi." the Hokage paused, and then continued. "the truth is, the fourth never defeated the Kyuubi. He actually sealed it in the body of a newborn child. And that child is Naruto." the Hokage finished. Raigin looked a little surprised.

He thought about it for a second and looked slowly at the Hokage. "so Naruto is the Kyuubi's container? As in he keeps it from returning to our world?" asked Raigin, trying to understand.

The Hokage beamed at Raigin. "Exactly!!! You are probably one of the first people to ever see it that way! But here is the real question, do you still like Naruto?" asked the Hokage.

Raigin looked at the Hokage, a smile on his face. " why would I be mad at the boy that probably saved the village?" said Raigin "besides, I really like the loudmouth little guy! He is a curious little man that just brightens my day!"

the Hokage smiled at Raigin's response. "Excellent! Thank you Raigin. You are probably Naruto's only real friend in this village." Raigin face turned serious again. "but why do the other villagers hate him? I assume they all know?" he asked.

"Well, most of the villagers are just frightened. They fear things they don't understand. Unfortunately, it's likely that they will never see Naruto as anything other than a demon." the Hokage finished.

Raigin, after hearing this, decided to ask a question that he had been debating on asking. Honestly, Raigin wasn't sure if he should ask the question, but after hearing why people hate him, he felt that he had no choice. Besides, it might be nice.

He took a deep breath and said "I was wondering Hokage-sama, would it be alright if I adopt Naruto and train him to be a sniper?" he asked. The Hokage looked taken aback at the suddenness of the question. "you want to adopt him?"

Raigin started to shift a little uneasily. "Yes, I do want to adopt him. I think that anyone who has suffered as much as him deserves some happiness at some point. Granted, I don't know if he will be happy with me, but I think he will be happy to live with me. Besides, I want to train him to be a sniper. He is really good at it."

he Hokage looked a little surprised at this information. "he's good at it? When I made the presentation at the academy the other day he showed no interest." said the Hokage.

Raigin smiled "well, I let him try using my pistol, and on his very first shot he just barely missed the bull's eye. And he was aiming for my hole that I had made. He's a natural at this." Raigin said, a bit proud.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "well if you say he's that skilled, then I suppose an adoption can be arranged. You'll have to ask him though." at this Raigin smile grew larger. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

It was the beginning of a new day, and Naruto had just woken up to find that there were no traps set on his door this morning. God he hated traps. They were there almost every morning when he woke up, and they are always obvious. The worst part about them is the fact that they were all set to kill him if he tripped one, so he devised a safe way to check for them. Using a 6-foot pole, he opened the door and just swung the stick inside the door frame. Doing this usually sets off a kunai knife or a small paper bomb. But today, there was no trap. And his proof came in the form of Raigin.

True to his word, Raigin had come to him, and no sooner had he done so, Raigin brought him the Hokage's office. At first Naruto was confused. Why the hell would Raigin bring him to the Hokage? Was he in trouble? His thoughts immediately changed when he saw the old man, who was smiling at Naruto, assuring him that he was in fact not in trouble. After a quick hello and a hug for the Hokage, they told Naruto of their plan to have Raigin adopt him.

Throughout the entire conversation, Naruto had a stunned look on his face. Some one actually wanted to adopt him? Is it for real? Is he dreaming? Anymore stupid questions to ask himself? Nope. Good.

"so that's what we were thinking Naruto." said Raigin. "if I were to adopt you not only would you have a family to live with, it will also be easier to train you to be a sniper. No the choice is yours and your alone, what do you want?" said Raigin, already knowing the answer by the grin that was slowly spreading on Naruto's face.

Naruto looked up at Raigin, a look of total happiness on his face. Then he shouted as loud as he could "HELL YES!!!!" and tackled Raigin in a hug.

The Third Hokage, who witnessed the entire thing, just smiled at the pair, happy that something finally went Naruto's way.

Well, there's the next chapter. I again would like to thank all of you who favorited or kept an eye on the story. I know that this was kinda mushy but there will be more rifles, team mates, and kick ass fights later on. Just working the plot. Please review and thank you


	3. meeting the pairs

_The training begins_

_Once again thank you for reviewing and subscribing. I would like to point out that this is my first fic and I am not quite sure how to format things. So I am going to try a different format. Tell me how I did. Thank you. _

_By the way, I decided on Raigin hooking up with Anko later in the story. Why? Because she's insane and I like insane chicks. Plus, she's hot. _

_Quote of the day:_

"_this sniper stuff is such a drag" - Shikamaru _

Exactly one month has passed since our last chapter. Naruto adjusted surprisingly well to a dysfunctional family life. Every day Naruto would wake up, go downstairs, eat breakfast, and then immediately proceed to tackle Raigin when he appeared in the kitchen. I'm not kidding. This happened at the exact same time everyday.

Naruto was truly happy to live with Raigin. He was a nice man, who rarely yelled at him. The only time Raigin got mad at Naruto was when he found him playing with his rifle. (rifles are not toys children) at first Naruto was a little upset with Raigin, but hey, what eight year old likes getting yelled at? But after an explanation from Raigin about how fragile and dangerous a rifle is, Naruto forgave him.

Another benefit of living with Raigin was that Naruto's academy grades were on the rise. It turns out having someone that knows ninja techniques is a real asset when it comes to learning basic academy jutsu. Already he mastered the clone technique, and he had the transformations down-pat.

The only unchanged aspect of Naruto's life was the fact that the villagers still hated him. But this did not bother Naruto too much. He was too happy with his new father to care.

Now, we will begin the actual story.

Naruto woke up at 7:00 AM, full of energy and ready to tackle anything, which in this case was Raigin, as he came down to the kitchen at 7:30, as was normal.

"_there is something wrong with this kid, he does this every day."_ thought Raigin. But he did not mind. He was glad that Naruto accepted him as a father figure in his life, and he was also glad that he had a son.

After a nice breakfast and a quick coffee (which he was careful to keep away from Naruto), Raigin picked up his equipment and left to go train, but not before telling Naruto that he had a surprise for him later today.

Naruto was beyond curious on what the surprise may be. He always liked surprises, but he hated the waiting bit that came with them. So he racked his mind on it on his way to the academy, and accidentally bumped into someone coming around the corner.

When Naruto jumped back, ready to apologize and run, he noticed who he bumped into. He had bumped into Hinata Hyuuga, and she did not appear to be mad at Naruto. In fact, she promptly turned beet red when she saw him.

Once Naruto saw her, he knew that he probably wouldn't get in trouble. He had noticed that whenever he was around Hinata, she would immediately blush, and sometimes faint, whenever he was there. And to this day, Naruto never understood why.

But what he did notice, is that Hinata wasn't like the other villagers. She never yelled at him, hit him or teased him. She would often come up to him and comfort him (between fainting spells) after the abuse stopped. And for this Naruto was extremely grateful, and he considered her one of his best friends, along with Shikamaru and Choji.

Little did he know however, is that Hinata's feelings for Naruto went beyond friends. Hinata secretly had a giant crush on Naruto, and she often stooped to stalker like methods to watch him. Naruto, being oblivious to this, never noticed he was being watched.

Naruto looked at Hinata, and immediately helped her up from where she fell on the ground.

"Oi, Hinata! Are you okay?" asked Naruto, holding out his hand, worry apparent in his voice. Hinata blushed deeply again, and she took Naruto's hand and allowed him to help her up.

"_he's really worried about me? But I was the one who walked into him. He is so nice." _thought Hinata (for my sake as well as yours, I will not write Hinata's stutter. You can either imagine it's there or go with my reasoning, that in this AU, Hinata has enough confidence to speak)

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun." said Hinata, eyeing Naruto appreciatively. She then asked, "are you alright? I didn't see you and I walked into you." she looked at the ground, afraid that he would be angry, forgetting her thoughts of five seconds ago.

Naruto smiled back at Hinata. "I'm fine Hinata. I'm sorry I knocked into you, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." he finished with a mock bow to Hinata, a long running joke that always made her giggle.

"Well Hinata, would you like to walk to the academy with me?" asked Naruto. Hinata blushed deeper than her already beet red blush. The boy of her dreams wanted to walk with her! Needless to say, she fainted immediately, but Naruto caught her before she hit the ground. He sighed as he looked at Hinata. This happened almost every time he asked if she wanted to do anything that involves spending time with him. Naruto picked her up and carried her bridal style to the academy.

A few minutes later, Naruto arrived at the academy. Hinata had woken up during the trip and she insisted on walking the rest of the way. Naruto would have gladly carried her, but she insisted that she was fine. As they walked into the class, Naruto noticed Sakura fawning over Sasuke. Again. Like she does every day. While Naruto honestly didn't care all that much about Sakura, he was stilled a little irked about the fact that Sasuke seemed to get all the girls. Worst of all, he hated all of them! These girls would probably take bullets for Sasuke if he was ever threatened, yet he treats them like crap.

It was this reason that Naruto hated Sasuke. He had everything, a powerful family and any girl he wants in the village, other than Hinata. Though Naruto never understood why…

Naruto took his seat in the back of the class, next to Shikamaru and Hinata. Shikamaru, after greeting Naruto, promptly fell asleep. This earned him the wrath of Iruka, which was an eraser, thrown like a knife, right into his face. "WAKE UP!!!" yelled Iruka. Rather than waking up, Shikamaru propped up a couple of books in front of his face and went back to sleep. With a sigh of defeat, Iruka went on with his lesson.

Today's lesson was on genjutsu. Normally Naruto wouldn't pay too much attention to this lecture, for he seemed to have a problem with genjutsu. But today, he gave the subject his full attention. Ever since Raigin told him that he needed to know at least one genjutsu, he had tried as hard as he could to grasp what it meant. Unfortunately, he still had no idea what the hell it was about.

After the lesson, Iruka called a lunch break. Naruto and Shikamaru ate in their usual spot, the tree with the swing on it. Hinata joined them a few minutes later. After they ate lunch, they still had a few minutes left of the break, so Naruto decided to ask for help with genjutsu. This consisted of Naruto attempting to cast a genjutsu on Shikamaru, and then Hinata casting a genjutsu on Naruto. The end result was Naruto actually casting a low level genjutsu on Shikamaru. But, he still had no luck breaking the genjutsu he was put under.

As they went back into the classroom, Iruka called out several names from the class. "Hinata Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, Ten-Ten, and Naruto Uzumaki, please head into the next classroom."

Naruto was a little confused. Squinting at Iruka he asked "Why sensei? I wanted to learn more about genjutsu."

Iruka looked at Naruto, a small grin on his face. "Because you four are part of a special training regiment that starts today. The teacher next door will explain when you get there."

St this, several other students, Sasuke included, protested at this. "why do they get specialized training?" they whined "its not fair sensei!" cried the fan girls, "what about Sasuke, he deserves the training too!"

Iruka had had enough of this. "BE QUIET!!!" he yelled. "this training was offered to all of you last week. Yet these four were the only ones who signed up for the class! Now sit down and girls, put Sasuke down!" he yelled at the fan girls, who were trying to discretely carry Sasuke out of the room, having put him to sleep with a paralyzing drug they got from nowhere.

At this point, the chosen four already left the class room, and were on their way down the hall. After a few seconds of silence, Naruto just had to ask. "why were we picked out of the class? I don't remember signing up for anything." he said, a confused look on his face. Shikamaru looked at him, a smirk on his face.

"if your too stupid to remember, then I wont bother telling you. Too much effort." joked the lazy boy. Naruto to his credit shot right back. "you don't want to explain this to me, but you can still walk and talk to me? Damn, you suck at multitasking." said Naruto. Shikamaru just looked confused, he knew Naruto wasn't a quick thinker, but Shikamaru always tried to discern the meaning of his statements. It kept him thinking.

The small group entered the class room. They noticed that there was no one there, and Naruto was beginning to feel betrayed, thinking it was a joke pulled on him by his friends. But before he could voice his feelings, the window next to Naruto shattered, and then a loud THUNK! Was heard behind them. They turned to look only to see a practice target, with a single neat hole in the center of it. And as if they weren't shocked enough, there was a sudden explosion in the middle of the room.

When the smoke cleared, there was a man standing there, wearing a large hat similar to the Hokage's, shielding his face. Before the spectacle could go on any further, Naruto yelled at the figure.

"Raigin! Knock it off already, I still cant believe you went through all this trouble to scare us." said Naruto. Raigin face vaulted, but immediately stood up, a depressed aura hanging over him.

"H-How did you know it was me?" he asked, a little shocked and disappointed.

Naruto just laughed. "I saw you practicing this yesterday. By the way, you didn't break a window yesterday." said Naruto, a sly grin on his face.

Raigin fumed. "that was a mistake. Some kid threw a rock at me thinking I was a monster or something stupid like that." said Raigin. Naruto just laughed at him.

Once everyone had calmed down, it was time to unveil the reason the students were taken out of the regular class. "now, I'm sure that most of you have an idea on why tour here." began Raigin. He shifted his gaze to Naruto. "But I think that one of you doesn't understand at all why he's here."

Naruto glared at Raigin. "are you tryin' to say something?" asked Naruto. Raigin just smirked. He continued with the introduction. " anyway, you are here because you are all enrolled for the sniper program of Konoha. For the next four years, we will be training you in marksmanship, spotting, and stealth." he finished.

As soon as he said sniper, everyone perked up a bit. Naruto had a gleam in his eye, Hinata was blushing and thinking, Shikamaru looked a little more attentive than normal, and ten-ten was hopping up and down. Raigin smiled at this, and he continued speaking.

"in this class, you will learn the art of the sniper. You will make your own weapons and ammo, and know how to kill an enemy without anyone noticing. However, you will still do standard ninja missions. You will be assigned into a team of shinobi like everyone else." explained Raigin. "however, the teams you are on will be unique. Instead of the standard four man squad, yours will be a five man squad."

Naruto was the first one to question this. Big shocker.

"why a five man squad Raigin?" asked Naruto. He thought he knew why, he just couldn't remember it.

Raigin answered. "that is because the teams will be assigned a sniper _pair, _a sniper and a spotter." this time it was Shikamaru who had a question.

"what is the difference between the two?" he asked in a bored tone. Raigin looked at him. "the difference between a sniper and a spotter is that the spotter looks for a target and the sniper shoots the target. The spotter does have a rifle, but their primary duty is to locate the target and estimate the range. The sniper has to take into account what the spotter says, and adjust his shot accordingly." explain Raigin.

There were no more questions after that. Raigin had answered all their questions in one go. They felt they were ready for training. Raigin though, had one more test for them to take.

"before we begin the class, please follow me outside to the new shooting range." said Raigin. The students complied, and a minute later they were at the range. When they got there, they noticed there was a large rifle with a scope on the ground, on top of a blanket. Before anyone could ask a question, Raigin spoke up.

"I have brought you here to test your skill. As you can see, there is a rifle in front of you. When it is your turn, you will look for the target that is hidden in the woods beyond the range. When you see the target, tell me, and I will give you clearance to fire. Everyone has one shot, and you cannot fire until I tell you to. Now, who wants to go first?"

Predictably, Naruto was the first to volunteer. He laid down on the blanket and shouldered the rifle. After taking minute to get comfortable, he began searching for the target. It was hard, as the target was fairly deep in the woods. After about five minutes of searching, Naruto found it. He called out to Raigin, who chambered a round in the rifle for him. He then gave Naruto permission to fire. After about 15 seconds, Naruto fired. The bullet tore through the woods, and nailed the target dead on, and the bang of metal hitting metal was heard for miles.

"holy crap, I did it!" yelled Naruto. "I actually hit it! That was easy!" he got up and looked at the others. "See guys? This is easy. If I could do it, so can you." said Naruto, striking a nice guy pose. Shikamaru looked a little unsure, while Ten-Ten was seething. She was the weapon mistress, not Naruto! Hinata was nervous. What if she wasn't good enough? What if she couldn't find the target? She kept thinking these thoughts until Raigin noticed and put a hand on her shoulder. This calmed her down a bit. He had that effect on kids.

"well done Naruto, right in the bull's eye." said Raigin, feeling proud. "now who's next?" and the test continued. Ten-Ten went next, and she was almost the same as Naruto, only she found the target faster. Shikamaru found the target quicker than both of them, and hit the target right outside the bull's eye. Hinata, to her surprise, found the target immediately. And when she took the shot, she hit right on the edge of the bull's eye.

Raigin had seen enough. He knew from the results who his teams were. He turned towards the students.

"I am very impressed with all of you. All of you found the target, and all of you hit it. And from your performance I have decided on these pairs." said Raigin, and everyone looked in anticipation.

Raigin continued. "team one will consist of Shikamaru and Ten-Ten, and team two will be Naruto and Hinata." he finished.

Right as he called the teams, Hinata fainted.

Right. theres chapter 3. once agian, thanks for the support, and i really apreciate everone who read the story. sorry about the long update though. if anyone has ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STORY, PLEASE ASK. IT MAY GIVE ME IDEAS. thank you and CIAO!!!


	4. training the pairs, and the new summon

Chapter 4 Training the pairs

I DON'T OWN NARUTO

_"mahogany. That is all." - the fat man pirate_

* * *

As soon as Hinata fainted, Naruto was at her side in a flash. "Hinata! Are you okay? Answer me!" he yelled, not quite grasping that she was just unconscious. Everyone around him Sweatdropped. Even Raigin who had only met Hinata once could see that she was completely overwhelmed by the thought of Naruto. How dense can Naruto be?

"she's fine Naruto, calm down." said Raigin. "just back up and give her some room."

Naruto obliged, and took a step back. A few seconds later, Hinata woke up, and Shikamaru had to restrain Naruto to prevent Hinata from fainting again. Once everyone had calmed down, Raigin had a few more words for them.

"alright kids, here's the deal. Every day, you will spend the first half of school in Iruka's class. And after lunch, you will come to my class." he began. "now, we are first going to learn about all firearms. That includes pistols, shotguns, and rifles. Then we will be dissecting a bullet, and you will make your own. Once we reach that point, you will learn anatomy and create your own rifle. Any questions?"

Ten-Ten raised her hand. "sensei, why do we need to learn anatomy? We already did that in the academy."

Raigin looked at her and said "if that's the case, what is the best point for assassination if you want a silent kill?" he asked.

Ten-Ten thought for a moment. "would it be the neck?" she asked hopefully.

Raigin smirked. "I'm sorry, that's wrong. But you have the right idea. The best point for assassination is the occipital lobe, at the base of the skull. Hitting that point means instant and silent death."

By this point, Ten-Ten had a notepad out and was taking notes. Everyone sweat dropped at this. And by some weird coincidence, Rock Lee was passing the classroom at the time, and drew inspiration from Ten-Ten's action. Thus, the Rock Lee as we know him was born. Thanks a lot Ten-Ten.

"in any case, being a sniper takes a lot of mental capacity and patience. As such, this course is more demanding than the regular shinobi course." explained Raigin.

Naruto groaned, realizing that there was a lot of book work in his future.

* * *

During the next four years, the small group of wannabe snipers had learned more than any one of them had expected to learn. They had learned all about firearms fairly quickly, and what each one was best suited for.

After they had learned that, they had moved onto stealth and concealment. In this field, Naruto had issues. When they had first started, Naruto discovered that he had a serious problem. He could not sit still for more than 20 minutes. While that may be considered pretty good by any normal person, a sniper often has to remain still for hours at a time. Naruto just got extremely bored, and then he started to fidget and move, and he would then be spotted by Raigin.

In response, Raigin had Shikamaru help Naruto by inventing mind games that would occupy the blonde's mind while he waited, and Naruto's skill in concealment had increased exponentially, and was improving every week.

Naruto and Hinata's relationship had improved by leaps and bounds too, as expected when you are basically spending all day with someone. Hinata stuttered and blushed less, and Naruto found that he could confide in Hinata if he ever had problems, and Hinata could always confide in Naruto, as well as train with him. As a result, Hinata's crush on Naruto diminished, but her actual love for him grew. Naruto was still pretty much clueless.

Once they had the basics of stealth covered, they had moved onto making bullets and weapons. The small class had gathered in a class room, to discover four piles of parts on the desks.

"Okay guys." began Raigin. "Today, we will be learning how to clean, inspect, and assemble a pistol." the class, minus Shikamaru, cheered at this. They had been waiting to work with guns for a while now, and they finally get to start. "now, as you can see, there are several parts on your desk. Your task is to use your knowledge of weapons to assemble this pistol in 30 minutes or less. When your done, let me know and I'll-"

"finished!" yelled Hinata.

Everyone stared at her. Hinata was the last person they thought would ever shout, even less that she would be the first to build a firearm. Hinata started blushing under all the attention.

"what?" she asked, still blushing. Raigin just stared.

"you just completed a project that would take me at least a minute to do, and you did it in 45 seconds." he said, a look of surprise on his face.

"it just sort of happened, I saw the parts, and I just moved." said Hinata, looking nervous. However, instead of being annoyed as she expected, Raigin just laughed.

"and people say your not a prodigy!" he exclaimed. "Hinata, do you know how hard it is to assemble weapons as fast as you can? You are the only one I know who can." said Raigin, Beaming at the girl. "If you're this good at building a pistol, I can only imagine how you shoot!"

With that said, Raigin picked up Hinata's pistol, loaded a round, and shot at a target in the room. The bullet went right into the target, and the gun barely jumped in Raigin's hand.

"amazing, you've even managed to eliminate recoil by using the extra parts in that pile! You are a real genius Hinata!" said Raigin, a look of pride on his face.

Naruto immediately went and put her in a headlock. "That is amazing Hinata! I knew you were an awesome partner!" he said, while giving her a noogie.

As it turned out, Raigin's hunch was right. Hinata was a natural at everything pistols. She was a dead shot at 50 meters, and every pistol she worked on became a work of art. All of her pistols had some sort of modification to them, and they functioned so well, the entire class was given a pair to use. Hinata herself wore four pistols, all on a brace she wore over her coat.

Naruto's true strength lay in carbines. True, they didn't have the reach of a rifle, but Naruto specialized in firing a barrage of bullets with near perfect accuracy. He now carried one on him at all times (think M1 carbine).

Of course, everyone still learned how to shoot a rifle, and everyone was a rated marksman. In fact, Raigin was so impressed with his group, he got the Hokage's permission to go on training exercises outside the village. And that is what is happening now.

* * *

It was cold. Very cold. As to be expected at 6:00 in the morning. Naruto was laying on the grass, covered in a gillie suit, looking down the scope of his rifle. Hinata lay next to him, looking through a targeting scope, looking down at the fake village that was erected for the exercise.

They had been laying there for several hours already, and the cold was not helping their patience. Naruto's mind games were getting boring, but he knew he needed to pass this test. Being the adopted son of Raigin didn't give him special treatment, and if he failed the test, Naruto would have to retest in 3 months to get his rifleman's license once he was a shinobi. The test was graded based on how many targets you hit during the exercise. There were a total of five targets that you had to hit. Hitting all five gave you an Elite marksman rating. Missing one target makes you a standard marksman, so on and so forth.

There objective was simple. One shot, one kill. Raigin would send several clones into the city, and then disguise them as civilians, and one of those clones is the target. The point of this exercise is to be patient, but have enough focus to nail a target in one shot, without hitting a civilian.

The real difficulty of the exercise was that you never knew when the target would enter the area, or what the target would be.

"do you see the target, Hinata-Chan?" asked Naruto, not looking away from the scope.

"I don't see it yet, Naruto-kun." replied Hinata, her Byakugan active. Naruto groaned.

"geez, we've been sitting here for hours, and still no target? Do we have the right place?" he whined.

"yes, Naruto-kun, this is the right place." said Hinata patiently. They lay there in silence for several minutes, scanning the village below them for any sign of their target. Suddenly, Hinata saw something.

"Naruto-kun, there is some sort of seismic disturbance outside the village, 150 meters northwest." said Hinata, looking through her spotter scope, Byakugan still active. Naruto turned his rifle in the direction Hinata indicated, and adjusted the scope.

"One click left… Two clicks down…" he said, adjusting the knobs on his rifle. Satisfied, he looked down at the earth in front of him, which had started bulging a little bit. Then, in a shower of earth, a shinobi jumped out of the hole. Acting on reflex, Naruto fired his rifle.

With a bang, the gun spat a bullet out of its barrel at the speed of sound. The small bullet hit the man right in the chest, and he fell. But he did not dispell, like a clone should. Instead, he did something that made Naruto and Hinata's blood run cold, he started to bleed on the ground.

"holy shit!" exclaimed Naruto. "I think I just killed him! We gotta go and tell sensei!" he started to get up and run, but Hinata stopped him.

"hold on Naruto-kun, there are several more people coming out of the hole the first one made." and sure enough, ten people filed out of the hole, and looked at their comrade. Almost immediately, Naruto realized that this was very bad. Not only had he just killed a ninja, but he killed a Iwa ninja! Naruto may have just accidentally started a war between Iwa and Konoha.

Its clear what needs to be done. The nins must be silenced. Trying not to move more than he could help, he pulled out his tac-radio. He had to get in contact with Raigin, now.

"Hinata-Chan, cover me for a minute." Naruto tuned into Raigin's frequency.

"Raigin-sensei, we have a serious emergency situation. I have just shot and killed a Iwa nin, and he had friends. What should we do?" he asked. Static was all that answered him. He was starting to get worried. He turned to Hinata. "what should we do?"

Hinata was about to answer him, when a signal flare was launched into the sky. A green flare. Raigin had just given them the green light to engage. As soon as the flare went up, the Rock nins sprung into action, five heading for Naruto and Hinata, and five heading for Raigin.

"shit! Hinata! Take 'em down!" shouted Naruto, unsealing his carbine. Hinata in turn drew two of her pistols, and began to twirl them on her fingers. **"Snipers Art: Incapacitation!"** she shouted, bringing her two pistols to bear.

She fired two times, one shot out of each weapon. Flew towards the enemy, and hit two of them in the shoulder, and the nins, who were in the air at the time, spiraled to the ground, unconscious for the time being.

At the same time, Naruto had taken aim at one of the enemy nins. He fired his carbine twice, and his shots hit the nin in the chest. Needless to say he didn't get up again.

Now that the nins had reached the pair, Naruto and Hinata were forced to separate, and tried to gain some distance between their opponents. Naruto's opponent, who was wielding a katana, preformed several hand seals. **"Earth style: Mud Wall Jutsu!"** he shouted, and a wall of earth rose from the ground, Naruto's bullets deflecting harmlessly off it.

Naruto quickly realized that this was going bad real quick. His opponent was at least Chunnin level and had him outclassed in ninjutsu and taijutsu. The only real advantage he had was his gun, and even then there were long odds.

Hinata on the other hand, was doing fairly well with her opponent. She didn't have as much problems as Naruto for two reasons. One: she had the Byakugan. Two: pistols are made for close combat. So Hinata had no problems shooting at the enemy, but that didn't mean she could hit him.

But there was one thing neither of them took into account. And that was the bag that had fallen off one of the Rock nins when Hinata had took them down. In that bag was a scroll. Not just any scroll, a storage scroll. And when the rock wall deflected Naruto's bullets, one of them hit the scroll.

Best mistake ever.

With a loud poof, four figures emerged from the ruined scroll. The leader to a quick look around, and noticed the battle. When it reached a conclusion, it said three words.

"Rico, surprise me."

One of the figures coughed, and suddenly, several kunai were in its hand. With expert precision, it threw them at Naruto's opponent.

The kunai buried themselves into the Rock nins back, and he died.

Free of his opponent, Naruto turned towards Hinata. He raised his carbine and fired two shots. His shots went wide, but it made the nin turned towards Naruto. This was the opening Hinata needed. She quickly fired twice, and hit the nin in the stomach and chest. With a pained gurgle, the nin fell to the ground, blood leaking out of his mouth.

Now that the danger was over, Naruto looked over at the four figures that had emerged from the scroll. What he saw made him question his sanity. Four penguins were standing there, and they were watching him and Hinata, while on guard. The leader spoke.

"Friend or foe?" it asked. Its voiced radiated authority. Naruto was still shocked. There were four penguins in the middle of fire country. And they could _talk_. You don't see that every day. Slowly, he lowered his rifle, and with a look to Hinata, who nodded, said "friend, penguin-san"

The penguins relaxed a little bit. Naruto could see that they were exhausted. The leader spoke again. "was it your bullet that opened that scroll?" he asked.

Naruto looked confused. "what scroll, penguin-san? I didn't see a scroll."

The penguin simply nodded and said, "then it was an accident. But still, thank you for freeing us. These nins captured us after they killed our summoner, and we have been unable to return to our realm since."

As he said this, several things fell into place in Naruto's head. They were summons, that's why they could talk. And they were stranded. And their last summoner was killed.

"is there anything we can do to help?" asked Hinata, who at this point had reached the same conclusion Naruto had. The penguin looked deep in thought for a couple moments, and then responded.

"actually, there is something you can do." as he said this, he hit one of the penguins, the heaviest one, in the stomach. The penguin coughed up a scroll, and the lead penguin held it out to the pair.

"I would like you both to sign our summoning contract. We may not look like much, but we are a powerful force to be reckoned with. Its also a thank you for freeing us from those nin." he finished.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other, nodded, and took the scroll. They signed their name in blood, and the penguin swallowed the scroll again.

"right! Now that that's out of the way, time for introductions. I'm Skipper, team leader." said Skipper.

"I'm Kowalski, team strategist." said the tallest penguin. "and the big one here is Rico. He's mute and kinda stupid." Rico, in response, coughed up a tire iron and swung at Kowalski.

"what does Rico do?" asked Hinata. "Rico is our weapons specialist and our primary storage." said Skipper, hitting Rico in the stomach again, making him cough up a explosive tag. "Rico has several storage seals in his stomach, and has a ton of weapons and equipment stored in them."

"my name is Private." said the shortest penguin. "I am the scout and primary distraction for the team. And know that our names are out in the open, what's yours?"

"my name is Naruto Uzumaki. Future Hokage, worlds best sniper-in-training." said Naruto, striking a stupid looking pose. Hinata just shook her head, blushing in embarrassment, and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Naruto-kun, don't say those things in front of people you don't know. you'll give them the wrong impression. My name is Hinata Hyuuga. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"right then, now that we have summoners, we can go back to our realm. So thanks again, and feel free to call us for anything. Except housework. Then I'll have to kill you. See ya whiskers, white eyes." and with that said, the penguins vanished in a puff of white smoke.

Naruto turned to Hinata. This was all happening a bit fast for him. And he needed closure.

"did that just happen?" he asked her. Hinata nodded wearily. "yes Naruto-kun, it happened."

Raigin chose this time to make an appearance. He was covered in dirt and looked tired.

"are you both alright? Any injuries? And for the love of all things pointy, did anyone get away?" he asked franticly.

Naruto quickly tried to calm him down. "Dude! Relax, we're fine. The ninja are all incapacitated and…" Before he could finish, Naruto was finally hit with the shock of everything that had happened to day.

He had killed two men today, and had witnessed more death than any child should before they graduate. With a quick look towards Hinata, they both dropped too there knees and puked their guts out.

* * *

Well, theres the next chapter. sorry about the long wait, and it may be safe to assume that there will be another wait for the next one.

i have noticed that i haven't really done anything about Raigin being naruto's adopted father. i am sorry, but i dont really know how to write these things. if anyone would like to help, please feel free to drop a line in.

as always, please review. CIAO!


	5. graduation

Chapter five: Graduation. Enough said

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR THE PENGUINS THAT KICK ASS

Hey guys. Sup. Anyway here's the next chapter of my story. I gots a question for you though. Does anyone really care if Haku and Zabuzza live or die? Please tell me and I'll try to work something out. Also, I have another summon idea. Maybe more of a familiar. I'm thinking of a small robot with a three letter name. it will be funny and awesome. Wont appear until wave though.

"_I can't set foot in Denmark." Skipper._

The following takes place between recess, and geography class. (not really)

It had been a week since the incident with the Iwa nins. Naruto and Hinata had to go to therapy for a week after the incident. They just couldn't get over the shock. Naruto turned into a recluse, just sitting in his room. Not even Raigin could get him to show any emotion.

Hinata was not much better. She also stopped talking. But she also wouldn't stop trembling, to the point where her bed also vibrated.

Realizing this was serious, Raigin had to call In the only person that could both shock and diagnose them at the same time. Anko Mitarashi. The slightly insane women owed Raigin a favor, something about a debt involving dango. Being part of the Torture and Interrogation department of ANBU, she was a qualified psychiatrist (this still makes me laugh) and she also knew just what to say.

Currently, Hinata and Naruto were sitting in a chair at Raigin's house. Anko sat across from them and just stared at them. Then she began her healing.

"GET OVER IT!!!!" she yelled. Naruto and Hinata jumped, and glared at her. She gave them a glare o her own.

"now listen, I realize that this was your first kill, but it's part of your job. And its even worse for you snipers. You have to look through your sight and watch your target die. I've seen the ballistics, and I know it's a brutal way to kill, but you guys cant do this to yourselves! It makes others worry." she said her tone softening. She sighed.

"listen brats, if you are going to keep freezing up like this, you cant be shinobi. The safety of yourselves, your team, and the village depends on how you react to these things. So either learn to cope or give up." she finished.

During the speech, Naruto kept his head low, his eyes in shadow. Of course Anko was right. You couldn't be a ninja if you froze up after every kill. That didn't mean he could just ignore it. But then he heard her say the two words that he swore never to listen too. Give up. The two words that haunted him as a child.

"_Give up demon! You can't get away from us!"_

"_You'll never amount to anything." _

"_You'll never be loved…"_

And suddenly, Naruto shot up and much to everyone's surprise, slugged Anko in the face. As Naruto looked up, everyone noticed that Naruto's blue eyes had changed to red. Not only that but his pupils were slits.

"GIVE UP?! GIVE UP?!?!! I CANT EVER DO THAT! IF I GIVE UP, THEN EVERY MOMENT I LIVED SINCE I WAS EIGHT WOULD BE COMPLETELY WASTED! THEN THE VILLAGE HAS WON! That just can't happen. Not now…" he said, starting to cry at the last part.

Hinata was stunned. Naruto had completely freaked out on Anko. Not only that, his eyes changed. he was obviously furious, and she did the only thing she could think of. She went and hugged Naruto. And he cried into her shoulder, all the repressed emotions finally flowing.

Anko got up from where she was laying. The little brat might not look it, but he is strong when enraged. She looked over to Raigin.

"well, there's one problem down, but I think you may have to explain a few things. Hinata definitely saw something. I personally think they need to hear the truth."

Raigin nodded. "I know Anko-chan. I was waiting until he became a Chunin, but if that power can leak out then this may be the best time." he turned to the two recently recovered duo. "okay Naruto, Hinata, it is time you both learned the truth on Naruto's childhood. I am going to tell you why you were chased all the time Naruto. Now, what I'm about to tell you is an S-class secret and is punishable by death if told. But as Naruto's legal guardian, I can tell him when I think its time. Now Naruto, the only reason I am telling Hinata is because she is your spotter and teammate. She needs to know in the event of a problem."

Naruto and Hinata stared at him. There was something involving Naruto that was an S-Class secret? And it was dangerous enough to force the information onto Hinata? Hinata just had to ask. "does this have to do with Naruto's eyes turning all red and demonic?" she asked, a little uncertainly.

"Yes, Hinata, it does involve that. Now, I want you both to listen to the entire story before coming to any conclusions. This is mainly directed at you, Hinata. To prevent any incidents, the room is sealed. We cant get in or out. So you'll have to listen until I unseal the room. Are you ready and listening?" both Naruto and Hinata nodded. "good, then I'll begin."

"twelve years ago, as you know, the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, also known as Kyuubi, attacked our village. As you now it, the Fourth Hokage killed the demon. But unfortunately this is not the case. The Kyuubi was a being of pure chakra, so it couldn't, be killed, and so the Fourth sealed it into something. And that something, or should I say someone, is you, Naruto."

Naruto looked terrified. The entire reason the village hated him was because of a fox demon sealed inside of him? It would certainly explain the hate he endured. He looked toward Hinata, who was looking back at him, her face showing comprehension, and a small bit of fear.

Naruto asked the question that was bugging him since he heard the truth. "so… what does that make me?" he asked, looking afraid. Raigin immediately said "You are not the kyuubi Naruto. You are merely the container. Think of it this way. A glass of water. Is the glass the same thing as the water it contains? Of course not. They are two separate things. The only thing this means for you is that you have increased senses, healing abilities, and the pontential to wield the Kyuubi's chakra as you see fit. You are and always will be Naruto Uzumaki." he said, trying to force his point across.

Naruto felt immensely relieved. He was assured that he wasn't the Kyuubi, and that Raigin knew and still considered him a son. This Anko lady knew and didn't hate him. Slowly he turned to Hinata. She had an unreadable expression on her face, and looked deep in thought.

"Hinata," Naruto began. "if you don't want to hang out with me anymore I would understand." he said, looking down. He expected a number of bad things to happen, her to yell, hit and even shoot him. But what he didn't expect was Hinata kissing him.

Hinata was kissing him on the lips. Hinata. Shy, timid Hinata.

Nice.

Naruto had a confused look on his face throughout the entire thing. When she was done he looked at her. "okay, I expected bullets, but I got a kiss. What exactly happened?"

Hinata was blushing scarlet. "Naruto, for as long as I've known you I have liked you. When we first met, it was a crush. As we trained together, it moved onto love. I love you Naruto. And some creepy dead thing in your stomach isn't going to change that fact."

Naruto had tears in his eyes at this. Hinata actually loved him. Know that he thought about it, it made sense. She was always fainting around him, and always blushed at him. How can he be so blind. He leaned in and kissed Hinata. "I love you too." he said, meaning every word.

A month had past since the whole revalation. Naruto and Hinata were officialy a couple, and Naruto had mustered the courage to tell the other snipers to be. Shikamaru looked a little surprised when he heard. He had expected something like this though. He was smart, and had noticed all of the negative attention Naruto received.

Ten-ten really didn't care either way. She knew Naruto well enough to know he wasn;t a demon.

The onl thing that changed was the response to the hostility that Naruto received. Whoever insulted or assaulted Naruto while he was with his friends, which was most of the time, bad things happened. Usually involving shadows and pointy things. Fun times. Fun times.

It was graduation day at the academy. Today was the day when they became ninja and snipers. The four snipers sat close to each other, Naruto inscribing something on a bullet, Hinata cleaning her pistols, Ten-Ten fixing a scope and Shikamaru was sleeping (big shocker), waiting for their names to be called. They had nothing to worry about. Raigin had them all trained in Taijutsu, and each of them knew at least one clone jutsu. Technically, they were officially snipers, but they couldn't be called for active duty unless they were ninja as well.

Slowly, the class began to get smaller, as the students began testing. Sasuke chose this moment to ask some questions. "hey dobe, what exactly have you been learning over the school year?" he asked. It was a rule in Raigin's class that the classes had to remain top secret, so no one knew what they were doing.

Naruto looked at him with a bored look. "still can't tell you Uchiha. Our orders are to keep it a secret until we graduate, and we havent yet, so no dice."

Sasuke was livid. It was fairly obvious that he snipers were quite a bit stronger than the average genin. He wanted that stregnth. "seriously dobe, this is a serious issue. I need to know what you learned."

"and how is it an issue? Last I checked, you were not interested in being a sniper. I know for a fact you would give up as soon as you find out how much patience this art takes. So, shut your trap Uchiha."

Sasuke started to slowly turn red. "patience? I'll show you patience!" he said, going in to punch Naruto. Suddenly, he heard a click, and felt something cold under his chin. Looking down, he saw Hinata had a loaded pistol held to his jaw, and while it wouldn't kill him, it would easily mangle his face if she fired. Slowly, Sasuke backed down. He knew when he was outmatched, as everyone has heard of Hinata's mastery of pistols.

Sakura however, couldn't take the hint. "Why are you threatening Sasuke-kun you bitch?!" she screeched, moving to hit Hinata. Suddenly she heard several clicks. She turned and saw that all of the other snipers were pointing their sidearms at Sakura. Well, almost all of them. The Shikamaru was pointing his weapon at Mizuki, who had taken this opportunity as an excuse to attack Naruto. Not a single person moved, the tension grew unbearable. And then…

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?!?" yelled a voice from the door way. Every head turned (minus the snipers) to the door way, where Iruka was standing, getting ready to call the next person in.

Naruto was the first to answer. "we are diffusing hostilities in an efficient manner sensei." he said pleasantly, never moving his weapon from Sakura.

Iruka just groaned. "alright you little smart ass, everyone put down their weapons."

The snipers complied, and went back to what they were origonaly doing. Iruka sighed. "okay Naruto, your testing next, so If you would come with me?" Naruto got up, and kissed Hinata "wish me luck" he said, then he went to the testing area.

Naruto entered the testing room. Iruka and Mizuki were waiting for him. "all right Naruto." said Iruka. I believe you know how this goes. Please perform a substitution, henge, and clone jutsu and you pass the test."

Naruto nodded, and began molding his chakra. With a cry of _"Henge!" _he was turned into Raigin. Iruka nodded and wrote something down on a clip board. Naruto focused again, and in the blink of an eye, a chair was where Naruto was standing a second ago. One final effort and Naruto cried _"Earth Clone Jutsu!" _and a clone rose from the ground, and bowed to the sensei's.

Iruka looked at Naruto proudly. "congratulations Naruto, you passed!" he said, handing him his hiate. Mizuki however was not so thrilled. "whoa whoa hold up Iruka. Naruto didn't perform an academy jutsu. He shouldn't pass." he said, glaring at Naruto.

Iruka just gave him a stern look. "Mizuki, Naruto filled all the requirements of the test. He passed, so get over it." Mizuki sulked, and Naruto left the room.

Naruto reentered the classroom, and went back to the sniper group. He continued his carving on the bullet. Shikamaru looked impressed. "so you managed to pass, eh? How did you do on the clone test?"

Naruto didn't look up from his carving as he answered. "I passed. Used a rock clone. Thought I may fail for not using an academy jutsu, but no one but Mizuki cared."

Hinata was looking at the bullet Naruto was carving. He was carving a what looked like a seal into it, but she still wasn't sure.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing to that bullet?" she asked. Naruto looked up, gave her a smile, and explained.

"I'm trying to make the bullet explode when it hit's a target. I'm just copying the seal on our explosive tags, and due to the bullets small size, the effects wont be quite as massive. You never know when a tiny spark could save your life." he explained proudly, holding up the now finished bullet.

"I don't know if it works yet, I'm going to have Raigin test it for me when I get home, wanna come?" he asked.

"sure Naruto-kun. I'd love to see it." said Hinata.

After everyone else had passed, Naruto was waiting outside, sitting on his swing, watching the other graduates talking to their parents. He wasn't alone of course. Raigin was right next to him, keeping him company.

"hey Raigin. Can we test this bullet out when we get home?" asked Naruto, holding it up to Raigin.

Raigin looked closely at the bullet. He noticed there was a seal on it. "sure, but you have to tell me what this seal is."

"fine. Its an explosive tag seal scaled down. I figured if I could make the bullet explode on impact, or maybe give it a delayed effect like the real tags, I could increase my combat potential. Think about it, all the bullets that missed, and are stuck in the ground, blowing up a second later. You'd need to be careful of friendlies in the area though." Naruto explained.

Raigin looked at the seal. It looked structurally sound, but it would need testing for sure.

"sounds like a great idea Naruto! I'm not so sure about the missed bullet idea though. Not only would the explosion most likely be too small, but you forgot the bullet will warp on impact, and the seal will become useless. But lets see where this goes."

Naruto smiled at him. It was really great to have a guardian like Raigin.

"speaking of testing, because you have passed the Gennin exams I will teach you a technique that only you can master fully Naruto. Due to your "fuzzy problem", you have enough chakra to use it." said Raigin. "I also need you to round up the rest of the snipers. There are things I need to tell you now that your on active duty."

"alright then. See ya at home." said Naruto, going off to find his friends. The first person he found in his search was Shikamaru. He and his father were leaning against the fence outside the academy, while his mother was, by the sound of it, nagging him.

"Hey Shika!" called Naruto. Shikamaru looked relieved. Finally, a distraction from his mother. "Yo Naruto! Come here I want you to meet my parents." said Shikamaru. "Naruto, I want you too meet my mother," Yoshino Nara smiled and shook Naruto hand. "and my father." Shikaku Nara just nodded at him.

"nice to meet you Naruto." said Shikaku. Naruto smiled and bowed slightly to Shikaku.

"likewise Nara-san" he said. Shikaku just waved his hand. "it's Shikaku to you, Naruto. Any friend of my son is a friend of mine." he said. Yoshino took this moment to say her piece.

"as long as you keep Shikamaru busy I'm happy. Nice to meet you Naruto. She said kindly.

Naruto was puzzled. Wasn't Shikamaru always complaining that his mom was hard to deal with? She seemed nice to him. "Shika, Raigin wants to meet with us. Can you help me look for the others?" asked Naruto.

"sure. Why not. I'm bored anyway." said Shikamaru. Apparently Yoshino took offense to this comment, because she immediately pounced on Shikamaru.

"Bored!?!? What do you mean bored?!?! Your family is here to congratulate you and you say your bored?!?! Of all the laziness and ungratefulness…" shouted Yoshino, beginning to ramble. Now Naruto understood why Shikamaru was trying to escape his mothers range. She was scary when angry.

After their escape from Yoshino's wrath, the two boys immediately went to find Ten-Ten. She was with her father, Krieg. He was a nice man, fairly muscular, and had burned hands. He smelled slightly of a forge.

As t turned out, Krieg was the main supplier of weapons throughout Konoha. He was also the man who supplied the bullets for the snipers.

Now they were off to find Hinata. After a few minutes of searching, they found her standing with her father and sister. Her father was speaking to the head of the Inuzuka clan, Tsume Inuzuka.

Naruto approached warily. While he didn't think he'd have anything to fear with the Inuzuka clan, the Hyuuga were a different matter. While they were mainly neutral towards Naruto, there was the occasional Hyuuga assaulter. Naruto and Hinata both agreed that it may be for the best that her father didn't know that they were dating.

"hey Hinata-san." said Naruto. "Raigin wants to see us. Could you please come with us?" he asked.

"of course Naruto-san." said Hinata. "father, I am needed by my instructor for awhile. May I go?" Hiashi merely nodded.

Now that they were all together, they made their way to Naruto and Raigin's house. This was where they usually went after school for miscellaneous things Raigin needed to tell them. The academy would have been fine, but it was hard to concentrate with Iruka yelling in the next room.

"alright." said Raigin, looking at each sniper approvingly. "I am proud to say that you are all qualified marksman and ninja. And now that you are all official ninja of the village, there are several rules you must follow." said Raigin. Seeing that he had everyones attention, he continued. "rule number one. You must carry at least one side arm at all times. Personally, I carry at least two on me at all times. This is to ensure that you are ready to atleast respond to a threat to the village even when not on duty. Do NOT SLEEP WITH ONE UNDER YOUR PILLOW!!! This is very important. You can shoot yourself in your sleep.

"rule two. All weapons must be suppressed while in the village. I will be giving you all standard issue weapon suppressors. Just screw it on to the barrel and then your weapons will barley make noise. This is to prevent panic in the event of an enemy encounter within the village.

"rule three. This is a personal rule. Never leave a man, or woman, behind. If someone goes down on a mission, do all in your power to bring the body back. We will give you a full military burial. Any questions?"

Naruto raised his hand. "are we allowed to carry our primary weapons while not on missions or on duty?" he asked.

"yes. Though they have to be suppressed as I said. Now, you are also expected to keep a sniper rifle on you at all times. But I can solve that. Before you leave here today, I need to inscribe two seals on you arms. One for your rifle, one for your ammunition. It is really a lifesaver when you don't have to carry all of that heavy gear on you backs and in your clothes." said Raigin. "any more questions?"

"I got one." said Hinata. "where do we go for ammunition? Or do we make our own?"

"good question. Now, to get ammunition, you go to Krieg's Weapon shop. He will be supplying our ammunition. But you have to load it into your clips yourself. I would suggest using clones to do that, because I'm fairly sure none of you want to spend hours loading hundreds of bullets into clips. Okay, now that there are no more questions, please hold your arms out for your seals."

After being sealed and given a crash course in using them, Raigin had one last thing to tell the snipers.

"before you go, I need you all to take a look at these." he said, pulling apart a curtain as he said so. Beyond the curtain was a small stage, and on the stage, were several instruments, two guitars, one bass guitar, and drums. "now, I want you all to form a band. Now before you say anything, it is for mental therapy. Being a ninja is mentally straining, and in my experience, playing an instrument relieves stress, and is useful on certain assassination missions. The reason your forming a rock band is because rock is a violent music form. The more anger or activity you put into your music, the less stressed you'll be. Now, I want Naruto and Hinata to play the guitars. Shikamaru, you'll play the bass, and Ten, you'll play the drums. Now I want you all to be able to read music in a few weeks, got it? Good. Now take an instrument and get out of here."

With a bit of grumbling, the group took there assigned instruments and left the building.

But unfortunately, Naruto's day wasn't done. "so Naruto," said Raigin, in a sickly pleasant voice, "what do you know about shadow clones?

And that's a wrap people. Sorry about the update time, but I tried, and I finished. Now before you all say I'm going too fast, I actually have never written any thing like a date or the kyuubi revelation. I just wanted to get it out of the way, and not have it hanging over my head. So, please review and recommend to your friends.


	6. the mizuki incident

Yo, it's the next chapter. Most likely it will have been at least a month since I last updated, so sorry for the disappointment. If it hasn't been a month, then I'm just to lazy to delete this part.

Any way, a few of you have expressed concern over the whole Kyuubi thing. As I said at the end of last chapter, its just to get it out of the way. This is also, as I have said, my first fanfic, so I am probably not that good at planning, or romance, in the case of Naruto and Hinata's relationship. So please just bear with me and try to enjoy the story.

"_oh god, oh no, that may have hit something important, is it supposed to pulse like that?" personal experience_

Naruto awoke the next day, his body sore as hell, and with this feeling of excitement and a small bit of nervousness coursing through him. He had learned the shadow clone jutsu, and today was the day that he was being sorted into a team with Hinata. He just couldn't take it. Today he was finally a genin. Today he was an official soldier for the village of Konoha.

Oh, this poor doomed child (lol)

As Naruto went through his morning routine, he noticed the house was unusually quite. He didn't hear bacon sizzling on the stove, nor the fluent curses from Raigin as the grease splattered on him.

When Naruto arrived to the kitchen, he noticed that it was indeed empty. On the table was a cup of breakfast ramen, and on that cup was a note. Taking the cup and eating the ramen, he read the note.

"_Naruto, went to work. See ya soon. Raigin"_

Naruto chuckled. Raigin was always lacking when it came to anything written. But Naruto couldn't help but wonder, where did he go? He usually doesn't work until noon or so. Ah well, these things happened. So after finishing his ramen, he loaded and holstered his pistols (he carries two on Raigin's suggestion), slung his carbine over his shoulder, and left for the academy. Now that they were Genin, they were allowed to bring their main weapons out in public

When Naruto arrived at the academy, he met up with Hinata first, and after an affectionate hug, moved on to try and find ten-ten, as Shikamaru was probably still waking up at home.

They found Tenten sitting in the classroom by herself, feet on the desk, next to her rifle that she got from Raigin. It was pretty heavily modified. It had iron sights as well as a low power targeting scope, mounted so she could use either and still retain accuracy. It was a semi, easy to take apart and clean, and it had fairly decent stopping power.

At the moment, Tenten was sleeping. But Naruto soon fixed that.

"Watch this." said Naruto, grinning like an idiot. Hinata looked on, an amused look on her face as Naruto slowly crept towards Tenten. When he was close enough, he reached toward her rifle.

Big mistake.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM IT!" screamed Tenten. She took the rifle from Naruto, bashed it on his head, then immediately hugged it to her chest. She did all this while still asleep.

Naruto had a gob smacked expression on his face, and Hinata was giggling uncontrollably. How on earth can someone scream, take something, hug it, and still be asleep? Its madness I tell you!

Anyway, before I get off tangent…

Naruto and Hinata, still giggling, just sat down a couple seats over from Tenten. They didn't want a repeat of the earlier episode, she might actually shoot someone. They just sat there, enjoying each others company, when Shikamaru walked in.

Shikamaru had chosen an odd weapon. He had chosen a lever action shotgun. His was almost stock, the only change was the ammo holders on the side and a matte black paint job. When asked why he wanted a shotgun, he simply replied, "I don't have to waste time aiming as much." which was bull shit, as he mainly kept solid slugs. Naruto personally thought he used it because he could fire it with one hand if he wanted to. (think terminator 2 on this one.)

"morning." said Shikamaru lazily. Naruto nodded back in greeting.

"well, today's the day guys. Today we're official marksmen for the village. " said Naruto, oddly subdued. It was understandable to be nervous. I mean, its not everyday that you graduate from school, and are then expected to give your life for the village.

The most of the wait was spent in silence, with the occasional twitch from the still sleeping Tenten. Then Naruto felt the need to talk.

"So, Hinata, how are you doing on your guitar?" he asked.

Hinata blushed, and replied, "Its going pretty well, I've found a genre I like. I really like the Blues guitar. Have you found a genre?"

"Sure have." said Naruto. "Rock guitar is the only one for me. It's just so much fun."

They would have continued talking about music, but Mizuki came into the room.

"Hello soon to be ninja." he said brightly. "If you could all follow me for a moment, there is one last test that you need to go through to be official genin."

Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru responded with a sharp "Yes sir" and Naruto threw a shell casing at Ten-Ten, waking her up, and the group proceeded to a different classroom.

One there Mizuki began the briefing. "Okay guys," he said seriously. "while you are recognized as academy graduates in the eyes of Konoha, you are not official Genin until you pass a final mock-mission proctored by a licensed ninja. Upon completion of this mission, you will be sorted into teams." he explained. Seeing that he had their attention, he smirked on the inside.

"_This is too easy," _thought Mizuki, _"at this rate I'll have the scroll and kill the kyuubi brat in no time at all, especially when his little group learns the truth." _

"Your mission is a document retrieval mission. It requires that you infiltrate the Hokage's study and locate the scroll marked "Forbidden". don't mind the name, it's just called that to discourage student from reading the scroll, which is extremely important. You CAN NOT read the scroll. Any questions?" Mizuki finished.

Shikamaru raised his hand. "Will there be shinobi guarding the scroll?"

"Yes." said Mizuki "Any shinobi in the tower is fair game. You may neutralize them in any way you see fit. Just grab the scroll."

"what exactly do we do with it once we have it?" asked Naruto.

"you will bring it to an old shed, one klick into the northernmost part of the surrounding forest. Once you arrive you are to await my arrival, and give the scroll to me when I get there. From then on, you will be official genins. Any more questions? Good. Move out!" Mizuki barked, laughing maniacally on the inside.

"Yes Sir!" they barked. They immediately took off to Naruto's house, where they could stock up on ammo and supplies.

Once they reached Naruto's armory, Shikamaru began to work a plan.

"Okay guys, which one of us has the most experience in the Hokage tower?" asked Shikamaru. The two girls merely pointed to Naruto, who raised his hand.

"Right then. We re going in this order. Hinata on point, Naruto second, and Ten-Ten covering our six. We'll load up on tranquilizers and commence operations in an hour. No lethal force at all, these are our comrades."

"Wait, hold on, I have an idea." said Naruto.

bit his thumb and ran through some hand signs, and shouted "summoning jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke, and when it cleared, four penguins were standing in the armory. They took a quick look around and noticed Naruto and his friends.

"Whiskers! Pale eyes! Its been awhile soldiers!" shouted Skipper. He was really excited at the moment. He noticed the amount of weapons and the atmosphere when he was summoned, and knew something exciting was going to happen.

"Hey penguin guys!" exclaimed Naruto. "Listen, do you think you could help us out with a covert retrieval mission? I'll give you some fish." said Naruto, holding up a tin of sardines.

"Sure, we'll help, just answer some of Kowalski's questions and we'll go from there." said Skipper, eyeing the tin hungrily. The mentioned penguin waddled up to Naruto, and began to ask him about the mission. After explaining the situation, Kowalski had one problem.

"We cant read. If you could give us a sample writing on what's on the scroll, we can compare it to the others and find the right one." he explained. So after giving Kowalski a piece of paper with the word "forbidden" written on it, the team was ready for action.

"okay whiskers, I need you to lead us to the site, and stand guard while we retrieve the scroll. If anything goes wrong, I'll throw it out the window. Okay soldiers, move, MOVE!"

And with that, the group was on their way. What no one noticed, was that Raigin was standing outside the door, and so the group promptly ran into him.

"Where were you guys?" he asked. "I was waiting at the academy for an hour. You didn't show up for the team meeting."

"what team meeting?" asked Tenten, "Mizuki told us we had to complete an exercise before we were sorted into teams."

Raigin's face took on a confused expression "well yes, there is supposed to be a test, but that's after you are put on a team. What did he tell you to do?"

"we were told to retrieve a scroll from the Hokage's office." answered Hinata.

Raigin adopted a shocked expression. If this was true…

"Which document?" he asked.

"A scroll marked "forbidden" said Tenten, a little anxious about the look Raigin was giving them.

"Ahhhh shit. Well guys, mission canceled. What you were about to do would land you all in jail. And on top of that, the scroll itself has several forbidden jutsu and the workings of Naruto's seal in it, and at this point, we don't want to mess with it." explained Raigin, who was steadily getting angrier.

The bastard Mizuki wanted to use his students to steal a scroll, did he? Well, he'd show him not to mess with Raigin Tomayoko.

"alright, here's the new plan. As of now this is the official genin test. Your mission is essentially the same, but with one key difference. You are to apprehend Mizuki when he comes for the scroll. I will have everything cleared by the Hokage in a few minutes. When I come back, you can begin." said Raigin, grinning evilly.

Raigin left the group alone, and sure enough three minutes later he came back.

"okay guys, I have this cleared by the Hokage and I did one better, I got the scroll for you. Its not a real one so don't worry about messing it up or something."

"thanks you Raigin." said Shikamaru. "Ok, we're going in like this, we will go to the shed, and set up a defensive perimeter. When Mizuki arrives, we will make as if to hand him the scroll. Naruto will be the one to make the exchange. As soon as Mizuki either attacks Naruto or tries to leave with the scroll, we will take him. Once again, no lethal force unless necessary." he explained.

"how do you know that Mizuki will attack Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.

"He hates Naruto. I think he will see it as an opportunity to get rid of him before he leaves."

"we also have to try to look like the victims here." continued Naruto. "if we are the ones to attack Mizuki, I wouldn't put it past the local police force to arrest us just because I'm there. Not to mention what the civilian council will do."

"alright then, now that you know the plan, you can begin. I will be watching you guys just incase so good luck, and move out"

One hour later, we find the team at the meeting spot. The group was hidden in the underbrush, and Naruto had Shadow Clones surrounding the shed, all henged as rocks and bushes. All they had to do was wait for Mizuki to arrive.

But something went wrong. Iruka jumped into the clearing, looking around frantically.

"Naruto! Hinata! Shikamaru! Tenten, GET OUT HERE!" he screamed.

"Iruka sensei! Quick get in here!" Hinata whispered. One of the Naruto clones un-henged, and threw Iruka into the underbrush.

"What are you doing here sensei?" asked Shikamaru. "we are in the middle of a sting here!"

"huh?" said Iruka. "but Mizuki told me you had stolen the forbidden scroll."

"we almost did." chimed in Tenten. "but Raigin sensei found out and told us Mizuki tricked us. So now, we are going to bring him in."

"He's here!" whispered Hinata. Everyone grew silent. And seconds later, Mizuki landed in the clearing.

"hello Mizuki-sensei." said Naruto, emerging from the bushes.

"Ahhh Naruto-kun! Where is the rest of the group?" asked Mizuki.

"the exercise isn't over yet is it sensei? The others are out keeping watch until the end."

"good thinking, now, do you have the scroll? As soon as I have it, the exercise is over."

Naruto took the fake scroll out of his pocket, and walked over too Mizuki. Suddenly, Shikamaru jumped out of the bushes.

"Naruto! Abandon the mission! The Hokage is on his way here! I don't think this is an exercise! Get away from Mizuki!"

Mizuki didn't give him the chance. He immediately slashed Naruto across the face with a kunai, and Naruto burst into smoke. Immediately, the rest of the group, plus Iruka emerged from their cover, and leveled their weapons at Mizuki.

"give up Mizuki, or we will have to use force!" shouted Tenten.

Mizuki just laughed. "I think you'll change your tune when you here a little secret about Naruto." he said.

"already know, and don't care Mizuki. Now give up." said Hinata.

"fools! You can't know about the fox-" and then Mizuki was suddenly covered in darts. His eye's rolled back into his head, and Mizuki fell to the ground. ANBU suddenly dropped from the trees and started to secure Mizuki after removing the darts.

Naruto, clearing his weapon looked to Iruka. "does this explain everything Iruka?"

And it is done! Sorry about the update time, but I was having trouble thinking of the plot. Anyway, I'm going to take a little break from this story. I have another idea I'm going to work on. So until next time, CIAO!


	7. Kushina

I don't own Naruto. There I said it. Now be gone. I SAID BE GONE!!!!

* * *

Hey, it's the fat man. Sorry about the late update, I have no real excuse.

If you've read my little note, you will have seen that I am turning this into a light crossover. Naruto/Halo/Pumpkin Scissors. All greats in their Genres. Any way, there will be no other summoning contracts, I will just keep the penguins. Kyuubi won't show up for a while, and even then it wont be for long. So, I hope you enjoy the story.

* * *

"_What kind? African or European Swallow?" King Arthur._

* * *

"Very good work Team 13." said the third Hokage. Naruto and the others had just returned to the tower, where they were given their headbands and officially made ninja.

"We aim to please old man." said Naruto, grinning. He was still adrenaline high from his first semi-combat mission.

"oh my god Naruto, if you say that again I am going to hit you." sighed Tenten, pinching her brow. "we're ninja not comedians."

"I wasn't trying to be funny…" said Naruto dejectedly.

Hinata put her arm around him. "It's okay Naruto-kun, you can make bad puns in your room with the windows closed. That way no one will throw food at you."

"as amusing as this conversation is, its time to debrief." said the old Hokage. "as you know, Mizuki was attempting to steal the Forbidden Scroll. The Scroll contains jutsu and knowledge that in the wrong hands, would have completely destroyed Konoha's defense network, as well as the effectiveness of our ninja.

I don't think you all grasp just how serious this is. You see, right now, we have the ninja world's best infantry. There are no countries with ninja better than ours. However, almost every other country has us beaten in technological advancement. Iwa right now is spreading blueprints to its allies for machines that are impervious to conventional ninja tactics.

That is why you were trained. Your not conventional ninja. You are all marksmen, men and women that have the ability to bring down Iwa's siege machines. That scroll you saved has information on all of you, your families, and your training and equipment. You would have been hunted down and killed had Mizuki gotten the scroll." explained the old man.

The reality of the situation hit Naruto like a cinderblock. While he may not be the safest while still on the village, if that information had gotten out, he would not have survived. There would have been Jonin, Chunin, and even samurai would have come after him. Poison, traps, assaults, even suicide attacks would have found him.

And god forbid if Kumo got Hinata.

But then the old man smiled. "on a lighter note, congratulations on becoming ninja. I was very impressed on how you handled yourselves tonight. A perfect ambush, and your actions have cleared the way for another generation of riflemen. In a couple years, there will be more riflemen throughout Konoha. The shinobi council is finally happy with the program." he said.

The girls in the group blushed, while Shikamaru smiled lazily, and Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

Before you go though, I have a gift for you Naruto." said the Hokage. "Now that you have become a Genin, I can give you something your mother left for you."

The whole group stiffened. Naruto slowly turned to the Hokage.

"R-Really old man? My mother, left me something?" said Naruto with a soft voice.

Sarutobi smiled. "yes Naruto, she left you something. Here." the Hokage brought a scroll up from under his desk. "here it is. The last scroll of the Great Researcher Kushina Uzumaki. She left you a letter and a her last project. Its yours now." he said, handing the scroll to Naruto.

Naruto didn't know what to say. His mother left him something. His mom. He didn't even know he had a mom. Well, he did, he just didn't think about her. Naruto started to tear up.

"Thanks Old Man." he said, his voice cracking. Naruto took the scroll, and with a final good bye to his team, left for his house. Raigin, who was in the room the whole time, turned to Sarutobi.

"you knew his mother was Kushina-sama and never told me?" he asked calmly.

The old man sighed. Suddenly he just looked old, like he had deflated. "He would have started asking the right people the wrong questions, and then pieced together the final piece of the puzzle." he said, choosing his words carefully, as the rest of the squad was still in the room.

"You could have told me."

"Yes, I probably should have too. But what's done is done. Go and see to your son."

"Yes, sir." and Raigin left, the rest of the squad filing out behind him.

Meanwhile, Naruto was running home as fast as he could. He had to get home, somewhere private. No, home wasn't close enough. Where… The Hokage monument! It was close by and peaceful. Perfect.

Naruto turned around and began running to the monument. It wasn't far, maybe 300 yards or so. He began climbing, the thought of his mother driving him on. It was a very strange sight, to see a kid climb the Hokage mountain. Most people walked up the path on the side.

Once he made it to the top, he walked towards the Fourth Hokage's head. It was nice and peaceful there, and had a great view of the village. Quickly taking the scroll, he unsealed it, and four items popped out. One was a letter. The second, a large scroll. The third was a blue steel lantern. The final item was a pistol. Or was it a shotgun? It was massive, at least the caliber of his carbine, maybe Shikamaru's shotgun.

But as much as he wanted to examine the weapon, he had a letter to read first, grabbing it he opened the envelop. There was only one phrase written.

_Open the scroll. _

And open it he did. The scroll was unlike one he had ever seen. There were so many seal arrays, all leading to a circular array in the center of the scroll. At first it did nothing, then Naruto noticed the blood and chakra seals on the scroll. Biting his finger, he swiped it on the scroll and pushed some chakra into it.

The result was unexpected.

Instead of anything popping from the scroll. The seal arrays began to glow. The seals glowed an eerie blue, a glow that began to spread throughout the seal arrays. The glow spread until it reached the center of the scroll, where circular seal was located.

This seal glowed green, and a ball of light began to rise from the circle. There was a chakra spike, and the glowing intensified.

Suddenly, the Hokage was standing on the statue, as well as Raigin and two ANBU. They had seen and felt the light and chakra from the Hokage tower, and had shown up to make sure Naruto was okay.

The ball of light began to fade, and a ghostly figure grew from the light. It was tinted blue, like the rest of the light. It had a very feminine body, symbols ran across her body and seal arrays. She had piercing blue eyes, and oddly, color shifting hair. It would shift from blue to green to red.

She opened her eyes, and looked around the clearing. She saw the ANBU, and the Hokage. But only two interested her. One was a old friend, and the other, being the source of family blood and chakra, must have been…

"Hello Naruto-kun." She said. Her voice was soft, but firm, like she could start to order the Hokage if she wanted to.

Naruto looked at her. She seemed familiar, but he couldn't place her at all. Something about the way she spoke and looked seemed familiar. The way she held herself, the way she spoke even.

"Kushina-Sama." Raigin whispered. The now named Kushina looked at him. "hello Tomayoko-kun. How are my weapons treating you?"

"will some one tell me who this woman is?" asked Naruto softly. The Sandaime looked at him, smiling sadly.

This, Naruto-kun, is your mother." he said. "incorrect." said Kushina "I am part of the final project of Kushina-sama."

"then why do you look like his mother?" asked Raigin.

"Well that's simple." she said. "I am an imprint of his mothers mind. In actuality I am a super computer, but Kushina-sama cloned her brain and used it in my processors. I guess you could say that I am a clone of Kushina with her memories and her personality."

"so you're my mom's clone?" asked Naruto, tears in his eyes.

Kushina smiled warmly at him. " that's correct, Naruto-kun. And thanks to the chakra you supplied, I can finally do what I wanted to do the moment I was activated." then Kushina walked off the scroll, and onto the grass, and hugged him.

Naruto froze. He could feel the hug. His mother was hugging him! Naruto finally broke and he sobbed into his mother's shoulder.

"Kushina-chan, I know this may be a bad time, but I need to ask you some questions." said the Sandaime.

"fine Sarutobi-sama." said Kushina, still in her hug with Naruto.

"what exactly is this "Final Project" that Kushina was working on?" he asked.

Kushina looked at him. Her hair began to glow green, and she started talking like the speech was rehearsed. "the Final Project was my creators last development for the Konoha military. As you know, Whirlpool was a neutral country, that was the leader in technological advancement. State of the art training, computers, even the food was the best in terms of nutrition. Anyway, Whirlpool was almost like a mercenary group, whoever had money would pay us and we would make something to give them.

"Iwa had expressed interest in a new kind of fighting vehicle. You may have heard of the mechanized vehicles that are used to transport goods over large distances? Well, they were only the first step in Iwa's plans. They wanted to weaponize it. Turn it into something that couldn't be stopped the way horses could, and still be able to carry troops into battle. So one of the other labs in Whirlpool created the Siege Machine. it's an armored tractor that has kunai launchers and cannons mounted on it. It can take down armies in small groups.

"So in response, my creator began experimenting in ways that would enable a ninja to overpower a tank. She worked on the project for years, and all her research pointed to one thing. Ninja are becoming obsolete. Because of these Siege Machines, conventional ninja tactics were ineffective. Only jutsu like the elemental dragons, the fourths Rasengan, and most lighting jutsu could stop them. So, my creator began work on a new project, the RIFLEMAN Project."

"and that's where I come in." said Raigin, causing all eyes to turn to him. "Kushina-sama hired me to test her new weapons on. Due to my skill in thrown weapons, I was chosen to help develop the rifle." he lifted his rifle. "What I am using now is the first rifle ever made, and arguably one of the better ones."

"yes, that's true." Kushina continued. "But that's not the end. The rifles that were first made were still not enough to use against the Siege Machine. Using the data from the RIIFLEMAN Project, my creator created a weapon powerful enough to pierce through the armor, a weapon that requires special enhancements to use. This began the Sub-Project LANTERN.

"Please pick up the lantern that came from the scroll. Do not open it. What it does, is take the users chakra, and enhances their body. More muscle mass, taller height, and the ability to shrug off any injury for a short time. It also influences the users mind so that they will never stop until the problem has been dealt with. Nothing short of beheading them will keep the user down for more than a few seconds. Using this while wielding the pistol included in the scroll will make the user able to kill tanks from close range."

Kushina began to flicker, the explanation taking a lot of her power to do. She looked down at Naruto, who had fallen asleep in her arms.

"I'm starting to run out of power. When bring the scroll to Naruto-kun's house, and when he wakes up, have him push as much chakra as he can into the scroll. From my sensors, I can tell he can power me for a few years with all his chakra." the flickering became worse, she was about to leave. Raigin grabbed Naruto from her arms before he fell through them.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the ruins of Whirlpool, there stood a building. It was one building amongst hundreds. The streets were empty, rubble and dried blood everywhere. But something was off, there were no remains. No skeletons, no body parts, nothing. And Whirlpool was an island nation, and no one had come to the village since the Plague hit.

There was something strange going on in that building. It was covered in pimple like growths, that moved and twitched periodically. If one looked closely, one could see little ball things swimming inside the growth. These things were the result of the Plague.

One lab was doing experiments in chemical warfare, and had created what they thought was the perfect plague. What they didn't know, was that the Plague was a mutagen, something that can alter the DNA of certain life forms.

One day, there was a breach in the lab and the Plague escaped. Any mammal infected by it would die in an hour, in the most painful way possible, blood nearly exploding from their pores. Only the rats survived that part, but what happened to them was worse.

The mutagen was compatible with the rats. The rats began to mutate, growing and shifting, until they no longer looked like rats. They began to resemble octopus, with a rounded, balloon like body and thin, waving tentacles. The former rats, driven by a chemical the Plague released, began to move into the city, and the new life form began to infect the now dead people of Whirlpool.

Tapping into the spinal cord with their tentacles, the corpses began to mutate as well, swelling, with a body that felt like a sponge. Their left arms warped into a giant whip like tentacle, and these newly infected souls began to wander, waiting for prey, something to feed the endless hunger.

Soon, an infection form found a large grouping of bodies. This one was in a hospital, the city morgue. Soon, more of the infection began to gather, and a new life form began to grow.

While the rest of the infected may be gruesome, this thing was truly frightening. It looked like a giant wart, slowly pulsing, with tentacles that waved in the air, and mouth like opening near the top. It gave a chilling cry, and of the infected outside stopped, and began to move back to the hospital.

The new thing began to direct the Infected, and had the mutated humans bring more corpses from the surrounding cities. The Infection itself began to gather and form onto the wart, increasing its size, and giving it sentient thought.

From the memories it had gathered from the brains of the humans, it realized that more food was just beyond the island, and the only thing stopping it, was a natural whirlpool, that would destroy anything it sent through it.

But that was alright. It had all the time in the wld. As soon as it thought of a way, the Infection, no the _Flood_, would push its way through.

And begin its feast.

* * *

And there it is. Incase you haven't realized, Kushina is supposed to be like Cortana. She will be staying through the fic, and acting like Cortana from Halo when on missions. So if want to complain, be that way. Until next time….. Mwuahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! (oddly enough, my real laugh does sound evil, according to friends and family)


	8. Treefiddy

**I don't own Naruto. Deal with it.**

**Holy crap I updated! Took me long enough, thank you to all who reviewed and stuff. You guys are what kept me going. Thank you very much. **

**I have a few challenges posted. Check them out if you like.**

Pain. That was all Naruto was able to feel right now. Pure, burning agony that was spread all over his body. He felt it in his muscles, in his skin, in his bones. It was excruciating. The worst part was, he was conscious the entire time. He knew there would be pain, he was told there would be, but like an idiot he believed he could take it. He knew he should have stayed in bed today.

**Flash back:**

The day had started out fairly well; he had woken up from a very refreshing sleep, having depleted his chakra the day before. He had used his chakra to power Kushina, who was now able to interact with everyday objects, as she demonstrated when she cooked breakfast that morning. Yeah, life was good.

Deciding he should visit Hinata today, he left his home after equipping himself for target practice. That was his favorite past time. On his way out of the room, he noticed the lantern that his mother had left him. It was a huge blue steel lantern, easily as big as his forearm, and amazingly heavy. He still didn't know what it did. Kushina had told him that he was not to turn it on unless his life was in danger. She said the first time would be painful, and that if anything he should wait until they secured a dependable doctor before activating it. But that didn't mean he couldn't carry it around right?

When he arrived at the Hyuuga compound, he was met by two Hyuuga guards. Apparently Naruto wasn't welcome in the Hyuuga compound right now.

"It's nothing personal Uzumaki-san. But we were charged with the duty of not letting anyone not of the family inside the compound. Should Hiashi-sama give you permission, you will be allowed in. but can I take a message for Hinata-sama?" the guard asked politely.

"No, that's alright. But if you could tell her that I was here, I would appreciate it." said Naruto. "I need to get to the range anyway. Have a good day gentlemen."

"You too Uzumaki-san." the guard said. And with that Naruto made his way to the range. He loved it there. The wide open space, the feeling of concentration he felt when he was aiming down a sight, the single sharp BANG and the single kick to his shoulder…

Music to his ears.

Today Naruto was going to try the new pistol his mother left him. At least, he was pretty sure it was a pistol. It could have been a cannon, it does fire a bullet almost as big as his forearm. He had no idea how he was going to handle it, but hey, practice makes perfect.

However, when he got there, there was already somebody waiting for him. She was a tall woman, with striking features, a woman that anyone would find beautiful. She wore a red dress, with high heel shoes, a necklace around her neck. She had pink hair, something that Naruto found odd, but the woman managed to pull it off. She just had the a presence about her, and Naruto could tell that she had probably broken the hearts of many men.

"hello Uzumaki-kun.' she said in a warm, musical voice. "my name is Shia Haruno. I believe you know my cousin Sakura?" Naruto nodded. "ah, so it is you. Well Uzumaki-kun, I really don't like this assignment, but once I'm paid, I'm honor bound to complete the job."

And with that, she withdrew two senbon from her sleeves and Naruto found them in his kneecaps. He fell to the ground with a cry of pain. Shia, knelt down by the boy.

"I just want you o know Uzumaki-kun, this is nothing personal. I was paid to incapacitate you. But know this, if you survive, you won't be able to find me. I'm leaving the village tonight. But I tell you what, I'll give you something special if we see each other again." she said. And with that, she leaned down and kissed Naruto on the forehead, and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto wasn't quite sure what just happened. He had been minding his own business, and suddenly, a beautiful woman shows up and shoves needles into his knees, and then apologizes and kisses him. He would never understand women.

Then, he realized he had bigger things to concern himself with. A group of young men, all armed, had surrounded him while he was trying to get the senbon out of his knees. The were all smirking at him, and Naruto knew this would not end well.

"well well well," the leader began. "little demon-gennin. You really thought we would allow you to become a ninja while we were still around? Now I'll give you a choice. Give up being a ninja and you will get off with a few bruises and nothing worse. Or we can disembowel you. Your choice."

Naruto knew he was in trouble. He couldn't move his knees, and he couldn't reach his side-arm fast enough. Oh shit. "you should know by now guys. I haven't given up before, what makes you think I'll start now?" he said, trying to play it cool.

Well apparently, these guys weren't up for witty banter. one of the men swung his knife, and slashed Naruto in the chest. And that was the opening shot. Suddenly, knives, clubs, and feet were raining down on him. His ribs were broken, his arms and legs slashed, his face bruised. Oh, wait his face was also slashed now. Naruto was on the ground now. He didn't know what to do. He had no weapons, they were thrown away by the men when they had arrived. Maybe he had a knife, a pistol he forgot about, or just some random stick he could hit them with. He started to slowly brush his hands down his sides, checking every pocket for anything that could help him.

Then his fingers hit the lantern. And he remembered his mothers words. _'do not open unless your life is in danger'_. and with that, he pulled the lever, and the lantern ignited.

The lantern squeaked open and suddenly chakra burst from Naruto with so much force it knocked the men back into a wall a few feet behind them. His chakra raged like an inferno, and began to sink towards the lantern, which in turn was absorbing the chakra as it arrived. Once the lantern had gathered enough, it began to expel the chakra, covering Naruto again.

Then the pain started.

**End Flashback. **

Naruto felt his bones shatter and regrow, felt his muscles tear and repair themselves, felt a pressure in his head that just kept building. His body began to grow, muscles bulging through his clothes. He began to get taller, and when combined with his new muscle mass, it began to tear his clothes apart. His hands grew, his legs elongated, and Naruto felt everything.

The pain lasted about five minutes, and by that time Naruto had already passed out. However, the lantern was still on. Naruto's body began to stand, standing at an impressive 6'5", much taller than he was before. His body also widened, giving him the dimensions of Ibiki Morino. And as suddenly as it started, the growing stopped. The pain turned into a dull ache, and the lantern still glowed blue.

"_kill, kill, kill,"_

One of the men looked at Naruto, who was still holding the lantern, and nearly pissed himself in fright. The lantern still glowed that eerie blue, and because Naruto's back was to the sun, the shadows on his face were illuminated in a blue glow by the lantern. His eyes were blank, his pupils contracted, and a blood thirsty grin on his face, the slash across his face glowing white in the light.. Naruto began to hear a voice in his head grow louder.

"_kill, kill, kill."_

Naruto picked up his pistol, which he could now lift with ease, and popped it open. He retrieved a single round from his pouch, and slammed it into the breach. He flicked his wrist, and the pistol closed with a satisfying CLACK!

"_kill!, kill! KILL!!!."_

Naruto aimed at one of the men, and pulled the trigger.

And missed by mile.

Despite now being able to wield the pistol and load it, his body was not used to the recoil his gun produced, and the round had instead tore up the ground next to the man's foot. The shock of the recoil however, had snapped Naruto out of his stupor, and forced the voice out of his head. Using the moment of clarity, he reached for the lantern and shut it off, putting a stop to the voice, and ending the urge to kill the men. However, the strain on Naruto's body was too much, and he passed out.

The next thing Naruto saw was the hospital ceiling. His bones still ached, but other than that he was fine. His body felt heavier though. He lifted his arm and brought it to his face. And then he screamed.

His arm was massive, muscular and covered in scars. Which was weird, his scars usually healed. But anyway, he threw off his sheets and discovered that he was now the size of a large bear, with more scars all over his body.

"what happened to me?!?!" he screamed.

"I can answer that." said a familiar voice. Naruto turned and saw that Kushina was standing in the room, along with a shocked Hinata, Tenten, and Shikamaru.

"Kushina? Hinata? Guys? What are you doing here? And what happened to me?" asked Naruto.

Kushina walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Hinata just took a look at Naruto's scars and started crying and gave Naruto a hug.

"well Naruto-kun, you turned on the lantern. Said Kushina. "by design it was supposed to modify your body to fit the role of an Anti-Tank Trooper. It's supposed to increase your size to enhance your strength so you can handle the weight and recoil of the pistol easier. It also enables you to instinctively know how to load and fire the pistol." She said.

"well what about the scars? My scars always heal up." said Naruto, still examining his now scarred arm.

"well, the lantern by design increases your healing rate when it is activated. However this isn't the same as with the Kyuubi. It accelerates your normal healing rate, and normal people scar." Kushina explained.

"uh huh. So that's what happened." mused Naruto. Hinata was still crying on his shirt. "why are you crying Hinata-chan, I'm alright, I really am."

"I just feel so guilty!" she sobbed. "if I had gone with you today, this never would have happened!"

"but it did happen, and it was bound to happen anyway. So don't cry Hinata-chan, I'll be fine, and you have nothing to feel guilty about." said Naruto. He then turned to Kushina. "how are you here anyway? I thought you had to stay at the house?"

"normally yes." said Kushina, "but now that you activated the lantern, I can be stored inside it when necessary. I had Raigin bring me when he first came here. He left to go bring everyone some food, he'll be back in a minu-"

"HOLY CRAP HE'S AWAKE!!!" screamed a very upset Raigin as he burst into the room carrying takeout. "It's about damn time too. You've been asleep for hours. How are you buddy?" he asked.

"I'm fine Raigin. I just seem to attract the strangest things don't I?" said Naruto grinning.

"that you do buddy, that you do. Now, we may have a problem. You out grew your weapons. There is no way you can hold your equipment now, so I'm going to see if I can get you a bigger set. If you tried to use them now you would probably crush them."

Naruto pouted. "and I just had them cleaned and calibrated! Not to mention I was comfortable with them."

Raigin sighed. "I know Naruto. But if you continued to use them, they wouldn't feel right. It would be like holding a twig in your hands."

"fine." whined Naruto. "but I still want a carbine. I like the idea of a little extra leeway if I miss."

"ok." said Raigin. Suddenly, Raigin's smile turned evil, and Naruto shivered. This would not end well.

"Guess who needs to buy new clothes? Your sudden growth spurt finally got rid of that orange monstrosity you call a jumpsuit." Laughed Raigin, pleased that the hated orange would soon be gone. (that's right. I never mentioned it, but Naruto is still wearing the jumpsuit. Not any more ;)

"but I still have more at home!" shouted Naruto childishly. He really liked the jumpsuit.

"well you outgrew them!" Said Raigin.

"crap. Well, I'm getting a hat with this new wardrobe. And it shall be fancy and awesome! I'm thinking a wide brimmed duster, I saw a western a little while ago and Doc Holiday was in it…" Naruto began to ramble.

"Ok, that's enough. As long as orange is kept low and dark, you can get what ever you want." Raigin interrupted. He had already been subject to Naruto's hero worship of Doc Holiday, and it was annoying at this point.

"now, until I get your new weapons, I want you to practice with that pistol now that you can use it. I will try to have your replacements by the end of the week. Now, I have things to do, so I'd ruffle your hair, but your taller than me, and it wouldn't… feel right now. Almost like its lost its novelty. Ah well, I'll think of something. I'll come back later. Enjoy your time with your roommate." and with that, Raigin left the room.

"I have a roommate?" asked Naruto, looking around. He then saw the old man sitting in a bed on the other side of the room. The old man looked confused, like he couldn't remember why he was here. He then saw Naruto looking at him. "Hey," he said. "you want to hear the story about the time ah met the Loch Ness Monster?"

"Not really no."

"oh it was a good seven or eight years ago." he continued, ignoring Naruto. "me and the little lady were out on this boat you see, all alone at night. When all of a sudden, this huge creature, this giant crustacean from the Paleolithic era come out of the water."

"It was so scary lord have mercy I jumped up in the boat and said 'Travis! What on earth is that creature!?!' " came a voice from Naruto's other side. Turning, Naruto saw an old woman, most likely the man's wife.

"He stood above us lookin' down with his big red eyes" "oh it was so scary" "and I yelled, I said 'What do you want from us monster!?!' and the monster bent down, looked me strait in the eye and said, 'I-I need about Tree-fiddy.'"

It was then Naruto new that this would be a long stay.

FEW HOURS LATER

"and that was the third time we met the Loch Ness Monster," the old man continued, Naruto at this point was trying to ignore them, but the story was just so interesting even if they wouldn't shut up.

"then there was this other time I believe it was July," he began again

"August." his wife interrupted.

"August, I heard a knock on the door. I open it, and there was this cute little girl scout."

"oh she was so adorable with her little pigtails and all."

"and she says to me 'would you like to buy some cookies?' and I said 'sure, what kind do you have?'. she had the Thin-Mints, Graham crunchy things," "raisin oat meal." "raisin oatmeal. And then I said 'I'll take a Graham crunch. How much will that be?' and she looks at me and said. I need about tree-fiddy."

"tree-fiddy!"

"well it was about that time I noticed this girl scout was about eight stories tall and a crustacean from the Pet-a-doge era." he continued

"The Loch Ness Monster." his wife said.

But the old man still had more. "I said 'Dammit! Monster! Get off my lawn!!! I aint' givin' you no tree-fiddy!' And he said, 'well how about two-fiddy?' and I said 'oh so now its two-fiddy? What is there a sale on Loch Ness Munchies or somethin'?"

"lord he was angry!" said his wife.

"Damn right I was angry!"

"not you the monster! He was about to kick your ass."

"ah shut your mouth woman."

**TIME SKIP: 4 WEEKS LATER**

Naruto was released from the hospital later that week. He had been looking forward to this day since he discovered he had a roommate. He had heard more stories about the Loch Ness Monster than he could stand. Once he was out, he immediately started training his body so it would be at peak performance once more. Lying in a hospital bed for three days really throws you off when you have a regular schedule. Once he got out, Raigin had presented Naruto with a new set of weapons, his rifle and carbine were bigger, and his sidearm now had to be a revolver, because they were the easiest to enlarge and make ammo for.

Hinata herself had made the revolver. It was black and brass, large caliber, and came with glow-in-the-dark sights, an 8 round cylinder due to its size increase, and a small flip out spike on the bottom, just incase.

Anyway, we join team 13 as they are finishing one of their many D-rank missions. The mission; capture Tora the cat. It seemed simple on paper, but when they tried to capture the beast, it lead them on a chase that had many senior ninja's laughing at the misfortune of the genin.

"I swear that cat is unnatural." complained Naruto. The others agreed. That cat was too damn fast to be a natural cat.

Finally, Shikamaru had enough. "screw it, Hinata, take it down. non-lethal please."

"on it." she replied, drawing a pistol. This one was one of her new creations. The barrel was made of pure chakra metal, and as such, could fire chakra bullets should she wish it to. She was trying to implement it into her Jyuuken.

Hinata took aim, and fired a chakra bullet at the cat. Now, because it was a chakra bullet, when Hinata fired, it made next to no noise. All you could hear was the click, and then the yelp of the cat, telling her that she had hit the target. Naruto began to laugh evilly. Shikamaru had a scary grin on his face, and Tenten looked put out that she didn't get to hit the cat. They moved forward and sure enough, the cat was out cold. Shikamaru quickly capitalized on the situation. "quickly Tenten, tie that thing up and make sure it stays asleep!" immediately feeling better, Tenten tied up the cat and swung it lightly into a tree. (don't condone animal violence, just referencing Monty Python)

"good work team." said Raigin. He had been watching the whole time and had been judging their teamwork. "a particularly good shot Hinata. You managed to hit the cat in its neck, very professional."

"thank you Raigin-sensei." said Hinata, beaming at her accomplishment.

"I still say we should have killed it." said Naruto, whose face bore scratches from the long chase. As it turned out, cats didn't like being approached by giant scarred genins that much.

"then we would have failed the mission Naruto." said Raigin. "now lets get going before it wakes up again."

They quickly brought the cat to the Hokage's office and gave it back to its owner. Naruto then immediately rounded on the Hokage. "these missions are complete bullshit Old Man!" he shouted. "I think you secretly enjoy watching me suffer, knowing that soon I will be leaving the village on missions and therefore not around for you to pick on!" he vented, eyebrow twitching. Raigin was just laughing at him behind the group.

The aging Hokage tried and failed to look innocent. "I have no idea what you mean Naruto." he said, not looking at Naruto. Now the entire team had twitching eyebrows. "however I do believe that with Raigin's permission you could take on a C-rank mission. After all, you are the only team that has actual combat experience with the Iwa incident and Mizuki."

" I say go for it Hokage-sama." Said Raigin.

"fine, I'll just call him in." he said "Tazuna! You can come in now!"

The door opened, and a drunk old man came hobbling in. "whatsh thish? Yous guys think yous guys are ninja? I can un-un-understchand the tall guy, but the resht of yous look like chil'ren to me." he slurred, taking a swig from his sake jug.

"well aren't you pleasant." muttered Naruto. Somehow he knew this mission would end badly.

**Well, there it is. Not bad this time around huh? Well, you know the drill. Any questions just ask and I'll answer. CIAO!**


	9. Update number Q

**Hey yall, its just a quick status update. **

**i have read your suggestions and comments, and i am surprised how many people hated the height change. i guess i understand, but i dont know if i should try to fix it. it would mess with my story abit, it would probably go like this**

*just as naruto was about to leave for wave, kushina ran up to him, holding a syringe and looking rather pleased with herself.

"i've done it!" she shouted. "i have the way to make you smaller again." and with that, she soved the needle in his arm.*

And thats how it would go. if your fine with that, i will put it in, and change his hieght to semi-normal. he wont be a giant, but a few inches taller than he was should be fine right? he keeps the scars though.

so tell me what you think, and i'll have the next chapter out soon. CIAO


	10. this is the end

I want to start off by saying I'm sorry. I really am. But I simply can't continue this story at this time.

As several people have pointed out, I need to work on my writing skills. I suck at grammar, story content, and even mental stability at this time.

Let me explain.

Mental instability simply means that my writing is influenced directly by what I think is cool at the moment. As you have noticed, there are a lot of random bits in my story that don't really matter. Such as the south park quote, and the Doc Holiday reference.

Story content. I noticed that there are a lot of holes in my story. The characters don't walk anywhere, they just appear. I'm sure there are others, but I am really tired right now.

I just want to say that I don't blame any of you, and I do plan on returning to fanfiction someday. I just cant right now. So if any one wants my story, they can have it. Thanks for all of your kind words. I'm amazed at the response my sucky writing has garnered.

Many thanks and well wishes (my god I'm making it seem like I'm leaving forever), the Fat-Man


	11. same story, done better

So hey. Whats up. I know your tired of seeing these, but I posted a new story with the same general idea as this one, minus the oc's penguins, and off tangent wtfs. So please, check it out if your interested, if not, well it was good seeing you again.


End file.
